


Dance With Me

by starmilk



Category: Free!
Genre: It's just a whole bunch of fluff, M/M, dancers au, haru's a street dancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 15:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1353037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starmilk/pseuds/starmilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin’s a dancer at the prestigious Samezuka Dance Academy, obsessed with dancing and training and constantly overworking himself. Haru’s a street dancer, and he only dances free.</p><p>They meet, and things happen.</p><p>(originally posted on tumblr).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_part one._

_to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love;_

_( - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)._

 

His black tank top was saturated with sweat and the sun had long since disappeared from the sky. His breath rose and fell in raspy gasps as he moved in time with the music, inwardly wincing every single time he made a miniscule mistake.

_I need to be more flexible here - wait, did I move too fast again? That was the wrong hand motion. My foot is supposed to be pointed to the left, why is it pointed to the right?_

_This isn’t any good._

_I need to practice more. More._

_Again. I need to do this routine again._

“Onii-san. It’s ten o’clock. You’ve been in the studio since you got off school. Isn’t it about time to stop?” There was the sound of a switch being flipped, a burst of static from the speakers.

Rin opened his eyes, turning the red irises to the girl sitting by the studio’s sound system.

She was the splitting image of him, only a girl - hair the colour of red wine, pulled up in a ponytail, and red eyes that matched his perfectly. Right now, she had a disapproving expression on her face, her hands working to flick all the switches off on the sound system.

Rin scowled angrily, straightening and turning to glare at the girl. “Gou. What are you doing here, and why are you interrupting my practice?”

“You’ve been practicing way too long,” the girl - Gou - hissed back. “Almost seven hours. When I came in here, they told me you came here after school, went into an empty studio, and you haven’t come out since. Overworking yourself is not going to do any good.”

“Why are you here anyways? I don’t even live at home anymore, why do you care about how I live my life?” Rin shook his head, watching as sweat drops flew from his hair and landed onto the floor of the dance studio.

“You promised Mom a week ago that you would come over for dinner today. We were both looking forward to it. And then you didn’t show up,” Gou replied, an expression of almost disappointment on her face. “And don’t give me all that shit about how I have nothing to do with your life. I’m your little sister. You’re never going to be rid of me.”

“Should I be comforted?” Rin replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“I came here to drag you out to dinner. You’ve been practicing for much too long already.” Gou snapped, disconnecting Rin’s phone from the speakers and tossing it to him.

Rin caught the phone with one hand, hissing in disapproval. “I’m not hungry, Gou. I want to practice some more. What does it matter, anyways? The Dance Academy is open 24/7. I can practice as long as I want.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s _good_ for you, you idiot brother! Overworking yourself is never going to get you anywhere! And you need to eat. So shut up, go take a shower in one of the Academy’s bathrooms, and then we can go out for ramen. Or something.” Gou replied, her tone firm.

“I’m not hungry. I want to stay here. You don’t need to -,” Rin started, but was promptly cut off.

“Don’t you dare object. _Move._ _”_

 

=

 

Five minutes later, Rin was showered and clean, wearing a fresh tank top and grey sweatpants with his black Samezuka Dance Academy jacket draped over his shoulders, and following Gou out of the Dance Academy in defeat.

Gou was carrying his black Dance Academy duffel bag, a scowl on her face and whispering under her breath about idiot older brothers breaking promises and overworking until they completely lost track of time and forgot about health and nutrition.

The streets outside were completely dark, lit up only by the streetlamps. Cars still drove past, though, and then and now cold drafts blew past.

Though there were still cars on the roads, the sidewalks were almost completely deserted.

“There’s a nice ramen place near here that’s open until midnight. We’re going there,” Gou stated, after about three minutes of walking in silence. “We’re only five minutes away now.”

“Okay,” Rin replied. He eyed his sister, who was wearing only a t-shirt and jeans cut short at the ankles. “Did you not bring a jacket out with you?”

“No, I was so mad at you that I forgot.”

Soundlessly, Rin picked up his pace so that he was now walking beside his sister instead of slightly behind. He took his duffel bag from her before gently shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and quietly draping it over Gou’s shoulders.

Gou jumped a little, surprised at the sudden display of affection, and Rin looked away, dropping his pace before she could say anything.

Six minutes later, they were both seated inside a booth in a relatively warm restaurant, and Gou was ordering for both of them.

When the waiter left, the two of them were left sitting in a slightly awkward silence.

Rin cleared his throat. “So, uh, how’s school?” He started awkwardly, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

“It’s great,” Gou replied shortly. “Iwatobi High is great. You should’ve come to Iwatobi instead of going to Samezuka.”

“Samezuka is a good school. And if I go to Samezuka, I don’t have to pay for going into Samezuka’s Dance Academy,” Rin replied curtly.

There was another moment of extremely awkward silence.

“You have any friends?” Rin started, trying to make conversation again.

“I’m still mad at you, onii-san.”

“Well, hey, you’ve been acting decently civil, so I thought we could overlook that.”

“I have friends. They’re dancers too, actually, a street dance group of guys. They’re quite good, onii-san. I might introduce you to them once I’m not so mad at you. I think you’d like their dancing.”

“Why are your friends all guys?” Rin demanded, as the waiter came back with their orders. He poked at the bowl of ramen that had been set out in front of him with his chopsticks, a look of dissatisfaction on his face. “Why don’t you make some friends that are girls?”

“I have friends that are girls! Chigusa’s my friend! I just probably spend the most time with the street dance group, that’s all.” Gou replied, her tone instantly defensive.

“…don’t tell me one of them’s your boyfriend. Did you get a boyfriend? You’d better not have!”

“What does it matter if I have a boyfriend, onii-san? You don’t even talk to me anymore, and you never answer my calls or messages because you’re so caught up in training. This is the longest we’ve talked to each other since, what, two months ago when you came home for a night to pack your stuff and move out during summer break?”

“Does that mean that you do have a boyfriend?” Rin snapped his chopsticks up and pointed them at Gou, a scowl on his face. “No. Absolutely not. No boyfriends. Not until you’re ten years older.”

“Onii-san! I’m only a year younger than you, you idiot!”

“Gou. _No_ boyfriends.”

“I won’t listen to you if you’re not even nice to me!” Gou snapped, and Rin sighed, lowering his chopsticks.

“You go off to Australia when you’re nine to do more _dance training_ , and only came home for New Year’s, once a year. Then you finally come back, just to _move out_ of the house and go off to an Academy far away from home. Why should I listen to you when you weren’t even present for half my life?” Gou was ranting now, and Rin sighed.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m sorry, sis. I’ll spend more time with you. Or whatever. Like…uh, tomorrow’s a Saturday, right? We can do something together tomorrow. Uh, your choice of whatever. Consider it my apology for being an, um…”

“ _Jerk._ ” Gou filled in, watching as Rin went back to slowly eating his ramen. “Yeah. We’re going to do something tomorrow. That street dance group from my school I was telling you about? They’re doing a show tomorrow. We’re going to go see that, and then we can go to the Aquarium.”

“The _Aquarium_?” Rin’s expression morphed into one of confusion. “Why do you want to go there?”

“It’s newly built. Just finished construction right after you got back from Australia. I haven’t been yet, so I want to go.”

“Ah, okay.” Rin fished his phone out of his pocket and stared at the time for a moment. “It’s almost eleven. The trains are going to stop running in a bit, and it’s a long trip back to the house.” He paused. “You want to stay over at my apartment tonight or something? You haven’t seen it yet, I don’t think. It’s small, though.”

An expression of unguarded joy flitted across Gou’s face, and a huge grin spread across her face. “Yes!”

 

=

 

He watched the boy move in stunned silence, completely enthralled. The boy moved with a sort of ethereal grace, moving with the music perfectly, as if he was one with it. His eyes were closed, and it almost looked like he was from a different world.

Rin couldn’t tear his eyes away.

The beat of the music dropped, twisted, ended abruptly, and the boy moved along with it, doing a backflip, landing, thrusting his hips forwards in a motion that _really shouldn’t be that attractive holy shit_ _._ He stopped at the exact time the music did, ending with his head down and arms dropped to his sides.

The crowd gathered around him burst into applause, and Gou turned to look up at her brother with a grin.

“That was Haruka-senpai. He’s kind of weird, but he’s a really good dancer, right? What do you think of him? They’re good, right, the street dancers? Do you like them, onii-san?” She said enthusiastically.

Rin was silent, his eyes still fixed on the boy - _Haruka._

Gou had spent the night at his tiny apartment, a place with one bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room that melted into an open kitchen. It was a tiny place, but it wasn’t like he did anything else in his apartment rather than sleeping, or occasionally eating.

She had woken him up at nine by blasting some kind of awful pop song, and then proceeded, after he had gotten ready, to drag him out of the house and on some kind of mini shopping spree. Rin had been guilt tripped into buying her four new outfits and a new cell phone strap, and after that they had stopped for a very late breakfast of bubble tea and croissants at some cafe that he had never heard of but was apparently very popular.

After breakfast, she had dragged him to the nearest park, where her precious street dance group of guy friends were putting on a performance.

He had watched a bubbly blond boy with mischievous eyes perform a perfectly choreographed piece to a song that was always on the radio - _that’s Nagisa, onii-san, he mostly dances to popular songs._ The blond boy was good enough, with a style designed for enjoyment, to entertain. Mostly hip hop, mixed with some other dance genres. Rin had certainly been somewhat entertained by the boy’s choreographed chaos, cheerful and bubbly and filled with quick motions, cheeky expressions.

After the blond boy was a tall, extremely tall, brown haired boy with gentle green eyes - a popper. A rather good one, Rin had to admit. He moved with perfect control over his own body, always smiling softly. His smile was gentle, but there was a sharp ferocity in his movements that contrasted deeply with his gentle demeanor. _The tall one with green eyes is Makoto-senpai. He’s the same age as you, onii-san._

Then came a boy with purple eyes and red glasses, with movements that seemed perfectly calculated. He danced well enough, but there was a certain awkwardness to his movements, unease clouding his expression. It didn’t seem natural. The boy with purple eyes couldn’t hold a candle to the two that came before him. _That’s Rei_ , his sister had said, _Nagisa dragged him into the street dance group. He’s originally a track runner, and they taught him how to dance from scratch last month, in a week. Considering that, he’s quite good, don’t you think, onii-san?_

And the last one who came on - the lean boy with black hair and shocking blue eyes - words couldn’t describe him. _Haruka._

Enthralling. Enticing. Beautiful. Graceful. Alluring.

Rin was still in shock by the time the crowd dispersed and Gou started dragging him towards the four dancers.

“Nagisa! Rei! Makoto-senpai! Haruka-senpai!” Gou called, waving.

“Oh, Gou-chan,” the first one to react was the tallest, the one with green eyes. Makoto. “You came to watch?”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Gou grinned, “Anyways, meet my brother,” she gestured towards Rin. “His name is Rin.”

“Rin-chan, then?” The blond boy - Nagisa - started bouncing up and down, grinning at Rin. “Nice to meet you! I’m Nagisa! Nagisa Hazuki! Did you watch us dance, too?”

“Yeah. You were, uh, good. Nice to meet you, too.”

“I can call you Rin-chan, right, Rin-chan? I don’t have to call you something stuffy like Matsuoka-san. Or Matsuoka-senpai. Or Matsuoka-kun or Rin-kun or Rin-san or -.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rin cut the blond boy off, already confused by his rambling. “You can call me Rin-chan, it’s, uh, fine.”

The boy standing next to him - Rei, the one with red glasses - stepped up next. “Um. Nice to meet you. I’m Rei Ryugazaki, Rin-chan-san.”

 _Rin-chan-san?_ “Please don’t add chan and san to my name.” Rin snapped.

“Rin-san, then.”

Makoto greeted him next. “My name is Makoto Tachibana. Nice to meet you, Rin. The guy standing beside me is Haruka Nanase, but I suppose you could just call him Haru. He doesn’t particularly care.”

_Haru._

Makoto nudged the blue eyed boy in the side. “Greet Gou-chan’s sister, Haru.”

Haru turned his gaze onto Rin, his expression empty. “Does he dance?”

“He goes to Samezuka Academy and trains at Samezuka Dance Academy,” Gou answered.

“Oh?” Makoto raised his eyebrows. “That prestigious Dance Academy? That’s impressive.”

“It must be boring,” Haru stated bluntly. “A stuffy dance Academy. People who train under restrictions don’t usually turn out to be very impressive. They’re not very impressive.”

Rin felt fury well up in his chest, and very slowly clenched his fists. _Not very impressive? Do you know how much I’ve trained? Have you ever seen me dance? Why are you brushing me off as_ not very impressive?

The red haired boy scowled, biting his lip to keep himself from exploding into curses and anger. Haru was really much more beautiful when he was dancing and not speaking.

“I only dance free,” Haru stated, and Rin narrowed his eyes, turned away.

“Nice meeting you all, then. Gou’s friends. Gou, come on, let’s go to the Aquarium.” Rin turned and walked briskly away, and behind him, he heard Gou chirp out goodbyes.

_Haru. Haruka Nanase._

He couldn’t get the boy out of his head.


	2. Chapter 2

_part two._

_to dance is to be out of yourself. larger, more beautiful, more powerful;_

_( - Agnes De Mille)._

  
  


“H _aru_ , are you even listening to me?” Makoto whined, pacing back and forth behind Haru.

Haru hummed under his breath as he pushed mackerel back and forth on a frying pan with a spatula.

“Haru-chan,” Makoto said, in an exasperated voice.

“Lay off the _chan_ ,” Haru said immediately, a conditioned response to whenever Makoto called him _Haru-chan_. He flipped the mackerel onto a plate, turned off the stove. “Do you want some mackerel, Makoto?”

“ _No_ , Haru, I just want you to listen to me,” Makoto sighed.

“You said something about a school and I lost interest,” Haru replied, his voice perfectly deadpan.

“Haru, a _Dance_ _school._ Samezuka. The one Gou-chan’s brother goes to. Rei wants to take classes, to improve his dancing, and we need to support him and take the classes with him so he doesn’t get lonely. Nagisa’s doing it. We should, too.”

“I don’t see why we have to do it too.” Haru paused, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and poked at his mackerel. “Nagisa’s doing it, so Rei shouldn’t be lonely. It’s not as if he pays much attention to the two of us when Nagisa’s hanging all over him.”

“He’s our _kouhai_ , we need to support him.”

“No, Makoto. I only dance free.”

Makoto sighed in defeat before picking up his phone and turning it on, typing out a message and sending it. A minute later, his phone announced that he had a new message.

Haru munched away at his mackerel, with an expression that could be considered happy on his face, as Makoto stared at his phone screen for a full minute.

Finally, Makoto spoke.

“Nagisa says that the Dance Academy is open 24/7, and if you sign up for classes you get to use the empty studios whenever you want, for as long as you want. You can, uh, dance for however long you want, with state of the art speakers, in any weather.”

Haru’s eyes glinted with interest as he looked up, his attention captured. “I’ll sign up for the classes.”

 

=

 

“So Rei-chan and I are going to take Second Level beginner jazz and hip hop classes together, Mako-chan was signed up for First Level Intermediate popping, and Haru-chan’s going to take the extra practice class where you just dance and have teachers to stand around and correct you.” Nagisa stared at the screen of his phone, reading a bunch of messages. “Gou-chan’s waiting for us at the Dance Academy, she said that she has everything sorted out already.”

“If we’re taking different classes from Rei, Nagisa, why did you make Haru and I sign up for dance classes too?” Makoto asked gently.

The four of them - Makoto, Haru, Nagisa, and Rei - were walking down the sidewalk towards Samezuka Dance Academy. Everyone was relatively silent except for Nagisa, who seemed to be overflowing with excitement and _wouldn’t stop talking._

“Because, I didn’t want Rei-chan and I to be the only one taking lessons,” Nagisa replied, with a large grin, waving his duffel bag around.

“What a stupid reason. It doesn’t even make sense.” Haru mumbled under his breath.

“Haru-chan, don’t be mean,” Nagisa pouted, “You get to dance for as long as you want and as much as you want! That’s good, right?”

Haru hummed in acknowledgement, looking pleased again.

“Ah, here we are!” Nagisa stopped in front of a large, modern building, the front completely made up of tinted glass, with a silver plaque on the side reading _SAMEZUKA DANCE ACADEMY_ in neat, capital letters.

He pushed open the door first, and the other three boys trailed in behind him. The lobby of the Academy was rather large, with lots of armchairs and a coffee table covered in dance magazines. On the walls were various posters of people dancing.

Gou was leaning against the front desk of the Academy, and once she saw the four of them, she immediately straightened up and waved. “You guys! Hello! I’ve got all the documentation and stuff sorted out, you just need to provide your IDs and signatures and we’ll be all good. Nagisa, Rei, your jazz class starts in fifteen minutes, and is two hours long. After that you’ve got hip hop class, which is one and a half hours long. You two have classes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.”

Gou paused, pulled some papers from the bag slung across her shoulder, and flipped through him. “Makoto-senpai, your class is in thirty minutes. It’s the extensive course, so it’s three hours long, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Haruka-senpai, your class has basically no time limit, so it has, technically, already started. Uh, it’s on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and basically you go into the studio and dance. They rotate trainers and instructors, so you can stay there and just dance for as long as you want. The instructors stop coming at around eleven, though, and they start coming at around nine in the morning. It’s a unique course exclusive to only Samezuka Dance Academy, with, uh, lots of freedom. Nagisa told me to find you a course like that, so I signed you up for that.”

“That sounds nice,” Makoto smiled gently. “Thank you for organizing all of this, Gou-chan. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Gou smiled brightly, tugging some more papers and a pen out of her bag. “It wasn’t any trouble at all. Nagisa, Rei, here, fill and sign these papers.” She handed the papers and the pen to Nagisa, before handing Makoto and Haru a sheet of paper each.

Haru filled out the sheet as instructed and stuffed it in his duffel bag.

“Haruka-senpai, this dance studio is on the third floor. Studio Four. It shouldn’t be hard to find, it’s the biggest studio on the floor and right next to the stairway. When you get there, just give the sheet to the instructor, and you’ll be good.” Gou directed him with a smile.

“Have fun, Haru,” Makoto said, as he sat down in one of the seats in the lobby and started flipping through a magazine.

Haru followed Gou’s instructions, and three minutes later, he found himself standing in front of a door with a plaque that read _STUDIO FOUR_ on it.

Quietly, he pushed open the door, and almost immediately, a wave of music washed over him.

There was only one person dancing in the room, and one instructor - a woman sitting at the piano bench with a book.

Haru’s eyes widened in slight shock as he registered who the person was.

Rin Matsuoka.

Gou’s brother.

 

=

 

Haru vaguely remembered saying something about people training under restrictions not being very impressive the first time he met Rin Matsuoka. Wasn’t the first time he met the boy just yesterday, after that performance in the park that Nagisa and Makoto had wheedled him into?

It was only now that he was actually watching the red-haired boy dance that he admitted to himself that he _might’ve_ been a _little_ bit wrong about that.

Rin moved with a sharp aggressiveness, his movements quick and flowing into each other with a naturalness most likely gained from years and years of practice and training. His style was a mix of almost everything - contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballet, and some unique elements that he had probably come up with himself.

He moved, his eyes closed, in time with the music, with movements a strange balance between aggressiveness and grace. He had a different move for each beat, shifting from one position to another with a speed that seemed almost impossible.

Rin was a good dancer, an extremely good dancer. His movements weren’t particularly flashy or eye catching, but before you knew it, you were captivated by the way he danced.

Raw talent mixed with years and years of hard work.

The music ended, drifting off into the distance, and Rin opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Haru, and that was enough to make him completely lose his balance and trip over himself. “What are _you_ doing here?” He spluttered, pointing a finger almost accusingly at Haru.

“Nagisa and Makoto told me to sign up for classes at Samezuka Dance Academy. Your sister signed me up for this one,” Haru replied in a deadpan, fishing the sheet that he had filled out previously out of his duffel bag and walking over to the woman sitting on the bench. “Why are you the only one here?”

“The class usually has some more people,” Rin replied with a scowl, “But not a lot of people want to spend their Sundays at some class. What classes are your friends taking? Advanced classes need auditions, so I doubt they’re taking any of those.”

“Rei and Nagisa are taking Second Level Beginner’s Jazz and Hip Hop, I think,” Haru replied, handing the sheet to the woman sitting on the piano bench. “Makoto is taking First Level Intermediate Popping.”

“This is an _advanced_ class, how did you get in here if you’re new?” Rin snapped.

“I didn’t know it was an advanced class,” Haru replied curtly, watching as the woman looked up from her book to take the sheet and read through it. “Your sister did all the arrangements, so I suppose you should ask her.”

“Haruka…Nanase, is it?” The instructor looked up from the sheet and smiled at Haru. She had short, wavy hair, and large honey brown eyes. “I’m Miho Amakata, one of the instructors for this class. Nice to meet you. You can call me Miss Amakata.”

Haru nodded.

Miss Amakata folded up the sheet Haru had given her neatly and nodded back at him. “Well, you can go dance now. It’s a freeform class - as long as you dance, it doesn’t really matter.”

“Miss Amakata!” Rin yelled, getting up from where he was sitting on the ground. “How did a complete newbie get into an Advanced class? He’s from Iwatobi High!”

“Hmm…” the instructor tapped her finger on the cover of her book, thinking. “I believe that your sister showed the instructors some videos of him dancing, and they eventually decided to let him in here. At least, that was the story I was told.”

Rin scowled. “But this guy…this guy is a _street dancer_. He doesn’t like _restrictions_ when he dances, right?” He turned to Haru. “Get back onto your streets and dance there!”

Haru huffed, crossing his arms. “I can dance wherever I want.”

“I’m usually the only one in here on Sundays! Get out of here and come back later, go do some kind of street dancer show or whatever! Do you even know what proper, refined, choreographed dancing looks like?”

“You’re acting so high and mighty, just because you have a proper studio to dance in. I don’t require choreography, like you do. The music likes my dancing, and I dance with the music. People who require instructions and need to be _taught_ exactly how to move have not mastered the art of true dancing.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“If you are angry all the time, the music will not like you.”

“The music does not like _you!_ ”

“Now, now, boys,” Miss Amakata stood up and walked over to stand in between the two of them. She hit them both on the top of the head with her book once. “Do not argue like kindergarteners. You are here to dance. As Chrisopher Buckley once said, ‘That is the beauty of argument. If you argue correctly, you’re never wrong.’”

The two stared at her in disbelief, and then demanded in perfect unison,

“ _What does that quote have to do with the current situation?!_ ”

 


	3. Chapter 3

_part three._

_dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals._

_( - Charles Baudelaire)._

 

The atmosphere at the table was very decidedly awkward.

After Haru and his street dancing group had started taking classes at his Dance Academy, Gou had somehow decided that meant that Rin was friends with everyone else now, and, so, she had insisted they had lunch together.

Lunch. On this beautiful, cloudy Tuesday, with Makoto, Rei, Nagisa, Gou, and Haru. _Haru._

Haru. The guy was an astounding dancer, breathtaking, but whenever they had class together all they did was argue.

They were the only two who went into the studio before nine in the morning and practiced until past midnight every day, and so now Rin had to pretty much spend three days in a week all with Haru.

At least when they both did extra practice, there were enough empty studios so that they could each have one.

Sharing a class was enough, but now Gou was making them hang out together?

It was a beautiful, cloudy Tuesday, and he could be dancing instead of sitting in a booth in some curry place, Haru across from him, listening to people make conversation.

Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa - who had just finished their dance classes, were discussing their various instructors and music. Gou occasionally made comments in their discussion, but Haru and him - they were sitting across from each other, not saying a word.

Occasionally, their eyes would meet, and then they would engage in a short staring contest, neither one wanting to look away or back down first.

Whose stupid idea was it to make Haru and him sit across from each other?

“So, onii-san, Haruka-senpai - how’s your class?” Gou chirped suddenly, deciding to randomly involve Rin and Haru into their conversation.

Rin poked at his curry with a spoon before speaking. “It’s fine. I guess.”

“Your ability in choosing music leaves a lot to be desired,” Haru said, spooning a mouthful of his mackerel curry into his mouth.

“ _What_ did you say?” Rin snapped, raising his head to glare at Haru.

They had gone to classes together for a week, and throughout the classes, whenever they weren’t dancing, they would argue with each other, insult each other - verbal sparring matches that didn’t stop, wouldn’t stop.

“The classical piece you were dancing to yesterday was slow and beautiful. You struggled with it.”

“Are you trying to say I can’t dance to slow and beautiful music?”

“More or less.” Haru hummed, wiped his mouth with a napkin. “The music doesn’t like you.”

“What are you _saying_ _?_ Well, if we’re going to go down that road, you _still_ don’t know the meaning of choreography. You can’t _follow_ choreography! You never do the same dance twice, and whenever anyone gives you choreography, you mess it up royally,” Rin snapped.

“ _I only dance free._ At least I know how I dance. You actually could dance to slow and beautiful music, but you don’t understand how to switch gears.”

“Is that a _suggestion,_ or a well hidden insult?”

“You could perceive it as a slight insult, yes.”

“You should stop taking up room in _my_ studio and go back out and dance onto the streets.”

“You have beautiful elements of ballet in your dance. When will I get to see you dressed in a tutu?”

“What are you _saying_ , you idiot?!”

“Don’t they get along well?” Gou sighed, smiling at Makoto.

“Haru has certainly never spoken this much to anyone he’s just met a while ago,” Makoto replied with a soft smile, eating his curry.

“Haru-chan really is talking a lot! It’s new!” Nagisa noted, stealing a spoonful of Rei’s curry.

Rei swatted Nagisa’s spoon away, pushing up his red glasses with one hand. “Yes. It certainly is new, though their art of speaking is not quite beautiful. They do appear to get along quite well, though.”

Rin and Haru ceased their bickering at the same time, and then turned to look at their friends.

“We _don’t_ get along,” they said in unision - Rin angrily, Haru in a perfect monotone.

Nagisa and Gou both sighed at the same time, rather dreamily.

“They get along so well,” Gou said, in a dreamy voice.

Nagisa just nodded in agreement, his face lit up in a huge smile.

 

=

 

Lunch was finally over, but now Gou wanted them all to go watch a movie and go shopping together.

 _Seriously, what’s your deal? We’re not all buddy buddy just because we go to the same dance school, sis_. Rin shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked down the sidewalk together, Gou and Nagisa caught up in a screaming match.

“Call me Kou, Nagisa!”

“Gou-chan, Gou-chan! You let everyone else call you Gou, so why can’t I?”

“It’s KOU!”

“GOU-CHAN!”

“KOU!”

“GOU!”

Makoto and Rei were trying to get them to stop, without much success, and Haru had put on a pair of earphones and seemed completely closed off to the world.

They past a florist’s, and Rin abruptly stopped.

“Sorry,” he said quietly, “I just remembered something. You guys can go watch that movie. I have to do something.”

He walked into the florist’s shop without looking back, and the last thing he heard was Nagisa’s voice -

_Flowers? Does Rin-chan have a date with some girl?_

 

=

 

He could hear the waves crashing over the shore, feel the cold wind blowing almost unrelentlessly.

The bouquet in his hands felt slightly heavy as he carried it to the single tombstone situated on a platform overlooking the ocean. Shrubbery grew on the platform, rather wild, untamed.

“Hey, Dad,” Rin said, a slightly sad smile on his face, directing his words towards the grave. “How are you doing? I promised you I’d visit you once a month once I came back from Australia, right? Here I am. It’s almost the end of September now. I almost forgot to visit you.”

He placed the bouquet onto the tombstone before sitting down crossed legged in front of it. “I suppose I really shouldn’t be sitting here. Like, what normal person sits in front of a grave? But, you know, I’ve done this every time I’ve visited you, it’s actually quite comfortable, and I don’t think I’ll stop now.” He paused, let out a soft sigh.

“Well, Dad. It’s, uh, end of September. I brought you new flowers. They don’t really have a particular meaning this time, they’re just the birth flowers of September, you know those? Asters, forget-me-nots, and morning glory. I didn’t look their separate meanings up, but, you know, they look quite pretty.”

A bird flew by in the sky above, and the sound of crashing waves seemed to get louder.

“I think Asters mean contentment, though. Read that somewhere.”

Rin tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, still smiling softly, sadly at the tombstone.

“Dance Academy’s going great, Dad. There’s this guy I met, like, a week ago. His name is Haru. Haruka Nanase is his full name, but yeah. He’s part of a street dancing group, and Gou’s friends with him and she somehow signed him up for the dance class I’m in. We argue all the time, for some reason, but he’s an amazing dancer, Dad. He’s breathtaking when he dances. It’s actually really amazing. Though the stuff that comes out of his mouth makes no sense sometimes.”

Another pause, as Rin stared out over the sea for a moment, his hand reaching out to touch the flowers in the bouquet.

“He’s a really amazing dancer, Dad. Though I won’t ever tell him to his face. I wish you were alive to see him dance. I think you’d really appreciate his dancing, you know? He’s unbelievable - when he dances, it’s like he’s from another world.”

Rin reached out a hand to trace the name engraved onto the tombstone.

“I think I’m really close to achieving your dream, Dad. Or at least one part of it. Juilliard. There’s going to be scouts, next June, at the Summer Showcase. I’m set on getting myself there this June. I’ll make it, just you see. I’ve been training for so long. I’m _sure_ I’ll make it, okay? So just wait patiently. I’ll achieve your dream for you soon enough. I _promise._ ”

Rin sighed and laid down flat on the ground, staring up at the sky.

“In other news, Dad, I reconciled with Gou last week - she’s the one who introduced me to Haru, actually - and, well, yeah. I’m going back home for dinner soon, tomorrow, I think. I haven’t talked to Mom in a while, so. Gou and I visited the Aquarium last week, too. It’s new. I know your passion was dancing but I think you would’ve enjoyed the Aquarium, too. It was actually really nice, and they’re opening an amusement park here in November.”

Rin sighed, watching as another bird flew by.

“Well, I’m just rambling now, but that’s what I always do when I come visit you, right? You don’t mind, right Dad?”

He chuckled dryly.

“You know, Dad, I really wish you were still alive.”

 

=

 

“Onii-san!” Gou burst into the dance studio where Rin was working on his new Routine, waving a flyer around. “It’s time to stop practicing! There’s a sale on for new CDs at that CD shop you told me you liked. Guess what, Haruka-senpai likes that place too! It’s only on for today, Thursday, and Makoto-senpai, Nagisa, and Rei are finished with their classes now so we can all go CD shopping!”

“Gou,” Rin hissed, wiping the sweat from his brow, “Why do _I_ have to join in your little shopping group?”

“Because CDs! And they’re on sale! And you like the place! Also, you’ve been dancing nonstop since this morning, and you and Haruka-senpai were at the studios until past midnight _again_ yesterday, and you need a break!”

“I enjoy dancing. I don’t need a break from practicing.”

“Yes you do,” Gou snapped, her voice suddenly serious and firm. “Now go take a shower and get yourself ready. You’re going CD shopping with us and _no_ , you don’t have an opinion on it.”

“You’re my little sister,” Rin sighed, shaking his head. “Shouldn’t you be the one respecting me instead of ordering me around?” He walked over to where his duffel bag had been discarded on the floor and pulled out a towel, wiping his head with it. “Honestly, there’s only so much you can get me to do as an apology for not paying attention to you all these years.”

“I can get you to do whatever I want.” Gou said, huffing and crossing her arms. “You need to do so much to make up for not even _talking_ to me all those years, you don’t even know. So start cleaning yourself up already.”

 

=

 

Fifteen minutes later, he was in his favourite CD shop with Nagisa, Gou, Makoto, Rei, and Haru.

The CD shop was filled with a variety of people, a surprising amount that Rin actually knew. There were actually a lot of people from Samezuka Academy at the sale, maybe because the CD shop was so close to his school.

Makoto was currently talking animately with a student of Samezuka Dance Academy who co-taught his popping class - Seijuro Mikoshiba. Rin knew him as one of the best dancers in the school, his senpai in the Academy. He had taken popping lessons from the guy once upon a time - Mikoshiba was a good dancer, and he was actually pretty nice.

But the way that he was sneaking glances at Gou was turning his overprotective brother senses on at full blast.

Nagisa and Rei were over in a corner, Nagisa chattering without end as usual and flipping through popular CDs at an extremely fast pace. Haru had disappeared somewhere within the depths of the shop, and clinging to him was a silver haired boy with blue eyes who wouldn’t stop talking.

Aiichiro Nitori was a hip hop dancer, his kouhai, and for some reason, seemed to look up to Rin very, very much. He had first met Rin when Rin co-instructed a beginner’s hip hop course at some point in August, and ever since then, would cling to Rin at school and constantly talk to him about dancing.

Rin didn’t mind him much. Nitori wasn’t bad. He was very overenthusiastic and would react at the slightest thing that Rin said to him, but he didn’t annoy Rin very much. He knew _when_ to stop talking, so that made him fine in Rin’s books.

He hadn’t absorbed much of what Nitori was talking about, but apparently he was now in Nagisa and Rei’s hip hop class and currently obsessed with some random artist on top of the charts.

"Matsuoka-senpai, what have you been doing lately?"

Rin looked down at Nitori, stared at him for about two seconds before the question finally registered.

"Oh," Rin paused, scratched at the back of his head. "Things. I’m taking the Advanced freeform class now, so."

"You should come and teach hip hop again. You were a great teacher, Matsuoka-senpai."

"You flatter me, Nitori," Rin grinned sheepishly. "I’m not a very good teacher, you know. And sending someone who isn’t even specialized in hip hop to _teach_ hip hop is not a very good idea.”

"Ai-chan!" Nagisa called from where he was sifting through CDs with Rei. "Look, it’s that artist you like. The deluxe collector’s edition of their latest album!"

"Really?!" Nitori seemed to perk up even more. "I couldn’t find that _anywhere!_ They have it here?”

"Nagisa calls you _Ai-chan,_ huh?” Rin mused, watching as Nitori’s face slowly turned red. “It’s very cute. Maybe I should start calling you Ai.”

"Matsuoka-senpai!"

"Ai," Rin tried out, stifling a laugh as Nitori jumped in surprise and turned even redder. "You should go join Nagisa and Rei. Go get that album you wanted."

"Yes, Matsuoka-senpai! It was nice talking to you." Nitori ran off to join Nagisa and Rei, and Rin headed immediately for the baskets of CDs that the store had hidden in the very back - the not very popular CDs, random ones that no one had ever heard of. The place where he found his favourite CDs and songs had always been back there.

The back of the store was dark and silent and hardly anyone ever went back there.

It was his favourite place.

He immediately went for one of the baskets and the moment he saw the CD on top, he reached for it.

Then he realized that someone else was reaching for the exact same CD.

"Want to rock paper -," he looked up and saw that the owner of the hand reaching for the same CD was no other than Haru.

Immediately, his face morphed into a scowl. “Wait. No. I saw that first. I want it.”

"I’ve been back here longer than you."

"I saw the CD first."

"I’m sure I saw it before you, as I was here longer than you."

"Well, whoever the music favours shall have the CD."

"How are we supposed to know who the music favours?" Rin snapped, picking up the CD. "How about you just give this one to me and go find a copy online or something?"

"I want the CD," Haru stated, his voice firm.

"Well, I want it too, so too bad."

"Whoever the music favours shall get the CD."

"Go find another copy!"

"There are no other copies. That’s the only one."

"How do you know?"

"I was looking for more."

"Why would you look for more?"

"I need three copies. One for the studio, one for home, and one for backup. That is the case for all my CDs," Haru said, as if that was perfectly normal.

"Isn’t that just a waste of money?" Rin shook his head in slight disbelief.

"I want the CD. Give it to me."

"NO."

"Haruka-senpai, Rin-san, are you two back here? Nagisa-kun and Nitori-kun wanted to do a street dance performance to some new album they found, because Nitori-kun wanted to try street dancing, and Mikoshiba-senpai wants to join us -." Rei ventured almost nervously into the depths of the store, pushing up his glasses every couple of seconds.

He was greeted by the sight of Haru and Rin glaring at each other over a CD, rapidly arguing with each other.

"Rin-san! Haruka-senpai!" Rei spluttered, not quite sure how to handle the situation. "We’re going to leave now and go to the park, Rin-san, your sister insists you come -."

Rin and Haru ignored him and continued arguing and glaring at each other.

Rei flushed, took off his glasses, and started nervously polishing his glasses on his shirt.

"Rei-chan, what’s taking so long?" Nagisa bounced into the back of the store and stopped next to Rei. He had a huge grin on his face, as per usual. "Oh? What’s going on here? Are Haru-chan and Rin-chan fighting over a CD?"

There was a rather awkward pause in which Rin and Haru glared angrily at each other, a slightly flustered Rei put his glasses back on, and an almost evil grin that practically screamed _trouble_ spread over Nagisa’s face.

"I know! You two can split the cost of the CD, and then go to the park and do a dance off with the music from the CD! And whoever wins gets to keep the CD! That’s a good idea, right?" Nagisa burst out.

"Dancing?" Haru looked away from Rin and fixed his gaze on Nagisa, his eyes shining.

Rin cleared his throat. “That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

"YES!" Nagisa fist pumped, looking extremely pleased with himself. "Let’s go!"

 

=

 

Gou had somehow magically managed to get a portable CD player - _I borrowed it from the Dance Academy, onii-san_ \- and now Haru and him were standing in some clearing in the park, glaring at each other.

 _A dance-off. I can’t let him beat me. I can’t._ Rin narrowed his eyes before smiling at Haru sweetly, “You can go first,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I don’t need an advantage,” Haru replied. “You can go first.”

“No, you go first.”

“No, _you._ ”

“You.”

“You.”

“ _You._ ”

Mikoshiba and Nitori, who had, for some reason, decided to join the outing, looked perplexed by Haru and Rin’s arguing.

Nagisa, Makoto, Gou, and Rei were used to it already, and opted to ignore it.

Nagisa and Gou were setting up the CD player and the CD, whispering to each other with excited looks on their faces. Rei was talking to Makoto about something or other, and Haru and Rin stood in the middle of it all, arguing with each other about who would go first.

“Rock paper scissors,” Gou yelled at them suddenly, “Loser goes first.”

Haru lost.

The moment Nagisa turned on the music, Haru started dancing.

It was like his dancing was a magnet - in what seemed like seconds, a crowd had gathered.

Rin knew for a fact that Haru was making everything up on the spot, but it all looked so natural, so easy, for Haru. Haru moved with the music like he could sense what was going to happen next, eyes closed and in his own world.

_Wait. Stop. I can’t do that. I need choreography. Choreography. I haven’t even listened to his album once yet. I can’t do this. I don’t want to lose, but I am so going to lose._

“Rin,” Haru’s deadpan tone pierced into his thoughts. “It’s your turn.”

“Uh, yeah, uh, I -,” Rin stuttered, and Haru stared at him, met his gaze.

His blue eyes suddenly felt extremely unnerving, like they were staring into Rin’s soul or something.

“Don’t think.” Haru said, suddenly, in a voice so low that only Rin could hear it. “Dance.”

_What kind of stuff is he sprouting now? Is that supposed to be encouragement?_

“Dance,” Haru repeated. “I want to see you dance.”

_Is he being nice to me?_

Rin moved his foot without thinking, and the next thing he knew he was doing something akin to breakdancing, timing his movements to the background beat of the song.

The crowd kept on gathering, and Rin and Haru kept on dancing, alternating between the two of them - both trying to outdo each other, prove that they were better.

They danced until the crowds dispersed and the sun went down, until Gou, Nagisa, Makoto, Rei, Nitori, and Mikoshiba all left for dinner, until they were both gasping for breath and couldn’t move anymore.

They ended up both collapsing, falling to the ground at the exact same time.

Rin had never before felt so alive in his life.


	4. Chapter 4

_part four._

_and those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music._

_( - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)_

 

October went by in a flash, and Rin found himself somehow becoming friends with Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto.

And Haru, too.

Kind of.

Gou constantly dragged them out to have meals together after their dance classes, made them all interact in a group, and though Rin was loath to admit it, they had all become sort of friends.

Nitori and Mikoshiba would occasionally join their group, too - Nitori would cling to Rin and chatter on and on, or talk to Rei and Nagisa about hip hop and music. Mikoshiba came mostly just to talk to Gou, and Rin always bristled whenever he arrived to join them for a meal or some other outing.

All his time was spent dancing or hanging out with Gou, Nagisa, Rei, Haru, and Makoto. His classes with Haru were still spent with the two of them arguing over trivial things _while_ dancing. Miss Amakata would always try to stop their arguments, but her efforts were for nothing, because once they stopped, they would, without fail, start up again within the next three minutes.

He had friends, though, now.

It was a weird concept, almost foreign to him.

He had never had any friends in Australia, and after his Dad had died, all his time had been taken up and absorbed by dancing. He had really never had any friends, except the kids he used to play with during kindergarten. He didn’t remember any of their names now.

It was kind of nice, having friends.

 

=

 

“Hey, Dad. So It’s October. I brought you white orchids. They’re pretty, right? They mean, uh, purity, elegance, stuff like that. They also, according to the internet, emit an aura of wistfulness and loneliness, and therefore they can be taken to mean ‘I miss you.’ Well, the message I was trying to get across was _I miss you_ , because I do. I always do.”

A breeze blew past. It was getting colder.

“I’m not lonely, though. I actually have friends, now. Remember Haru, the guy I told you about last month? Yeah, I became kind of friends with him and the rest of his friends - Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei. They’re okay people, I guess. I’ve been spending a lot of time with them, because Gou makes me, and it’s kind of nice, having people to talk to.”

A pause.

“Haru…Haru’s a really interesting guy, Dad. I had a dance off with him at some point. We danced for hours, until we couldn’t stand anymore. It was actually wonderful. It made me feel alive, if that makes any sense. _He_ makes me feel alive.”

Another pause, a slight laugh.

“Wow, no, never mind. That sounded really stupid. Please erase the fact that I ever said that. We’re not really that close, you know. We still argue nonstop whenever we see each other, for some reason. We can’t talk to each other without hiding insults behind words and all that. He’s still a really good dancer, though, even though he doesn’t understand the concept of choreography.”

A sigh.

“So, October. It was a decent month. It’s not Halloween yet, but they already have haunted houses up and decorations everywhere, you know. Makoto’s this really tall 180cm dude, and he gets so easily afraid it’s funny. I went shopping with him and him alone once, when Nagisa, Rei, and Gou were working on some school project and Haru was sleeping. We walked through the mall and he screamed so hard when a ghost decoration flew out of nowhere.”

A laugh.

“Yeah, that was really funny. And we went to a pizza place, and there was this guy working there, and he happens to be Makoto’s old dance teacher or whatever, the dude who taught him the basics of popping. His name was Sasabe or whatever, and we go to the pizza place a lot now.”

He closed his eyes, laid down and tilted his head to the sky.

“I need to develop a new routine soon, for the Winter Performance. Not yet, but soon. I wonder what Haru’s going to do. I bet he’s just going to go up on stage and dance, because he doesn’t know how to follow instructions. His dancing style’s really quite interesting.”

A laugh.

“Why am I talking about Haru again? Well, Dad. I hope you’re doing good, since I’m doing pretty okay. Oh, yeah, Mikoshiba and Nitori sometimes join my group of friends or whatever. Nitori’s that guy I talked to you at some point about, in August, I think, remember him? Anyways…”

He talked and talked until the sky went dark and the stars came out, a sad smile on his face throughout.

 

=

 

Haru couldn’t quite remember the exact point in time when Rin became such a huge chunk of his life.

It was almost like wherever he went, there was Rin. They had dance classes together, Gou would constantly drag them all out for food together, and somehow, whenever they all separated into their own little duos and trios, he ended up with Rin.

It was November. He had met the guy in September.

Since when did _Rin_ become the person he spent the most time with in his life?

It was kind of weird to contemplate, so Haru didn’t think about it much.

He talked a lot more now, oddly. Rin had some kind of talent that could draw it out of him, and during their dance classes, they would constantly bicker at each other while practicing their dancing.

It was always about the most insignificant things - once, they argued about whether cats liked fruit or not. Another time, which style of swimming was better. Another, whether the shade of Mikoshiba’s hair was red, orange, or _blood orange_. They once argued about whether the floorboards in the dance studio were shiny enough.

The most stupid, insignificant things.

It drove everyone crazy - Miss Amakata, the rest of the instructors, Gou, Nagisa, Makoto, Rei. Occasionally, Gou, Nagisa, Makoto, and Rei would come into studio four and sit there, watching Rin and Haru dance and argue.

(Haru didn’t know why, but Gou and Nagisa seemed to enjoy it massively).

It was currently mid-November, and Gou, Nagisa, Makoto, and Rei were sitting in studio four, watching Rin and Haru. Miss Amakata was the current instructor, though she wasn’t doing much instructing. It was probably around 6PM, and Rin and Haru were arguing about whether fish felt pain and getting rather into it, screaming at each other while practicing spins.

“Fish don’t have the same neural systems as we do! They don’t process pain!”

“No, Rin, fish feel pain.”

“How do you know?”

“Fish are important. They feel pain.”

“Don’t state something without anything to back it up, you idiot!”

“Mackerel.”

“What does that have to do with fish feeling pain? Salmon!”

“Mackerel.”

“Salmon!”

Makoto leaned over to Gou, his face looking slightly puzzled. “When did they go from _do fish feel pain_ to _mackerel and salmon_?” He questioned, his voice low.

Gou shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s something only they get.”

“Rin-chan and Haru-chan act like they hate each other and are irritated by each other, but really, they get along the best with each other, don’t they?” Nagisa grinned, randomly joining the conversation.

Makoto hummed under his breath, looking like he had a lot to think about.

“Onii-san! Haruka-senpai! You have ten minutes before we’re all going out for dinner.” Gou yelled.

Rin and Haru, who had somehow switched from the topic of fish to ‘doesn’t expect the unexpected make the unexpected expected?’, continued firing words at each other, ignoring her completely.

“Makoto-senpai, help me,” Gou sighed.

“Haru! Rin! You have ten minutes left in the studio before it’s time to eat food. You need to keep your bodies healthy,” Makoto called out.

Rin and Haru ignored him. They were both working through routines now, practicing footwork, and their voices were growing steadily louder as they argued about unexpected and expected events.

“ONII-SAN! HARUKA-SENPAI!”

“It’s like they’re in their own world,” Rei noted, and Nagisa nodded in agreement.

Rin and Haru were yelling so loud now that it seemed almost ridiculous that they were still dancing.

Then a book flew across the room from the piano in the corner, hitting Rin in the back of his head and causing him to stumble into Haru, effectively knocking the two of them over.

Miss Amakata stood up from the piano bench, looking furious. “STOP ARGUING!” She screamed. “I CANNOT READ! I DON’T GET WHY THE OTHER INSTRUCTORS DON’T PUNISH YOU FOR THIS! I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY _I_ HAVEN’T PUNISHED YOU TWO YET!”

She walked over to Rin and Haru, who were sprawled out on the ground, and picked up her book, brushing it off with a huff. “You two need to stop arguing,” she lectured, looking extremely displeased. “There should be consequences. You two just argue throughout all of your classes. I do hope you two are preparing your routines for the Winter Performance in December, or else there _will_ be trouble.”

Miss Amakata thought for a moment, tapping her fingernails on the cover of her book. When she spoke again, her voice was calm and she was smiling sweetly. “Oh! I’ve got it. How about you two dance a duet together - a four minute one, perhaps - and throughout this, you _may not_ argue with each other. It’s not such a bad deal, is it? Though it might be rather difficult, since you two seem to be unable to go a minute without arguing. Maybe dancing a duet together will teach you two how to get along.”

“Ooh! A duet!” Nagisa stood up from where he was sitting on the ground. “I want to see!”

“I’ll choose the music. Get up from the floor,” Miss Amakata smiled pleasantly.

Rin and Haru got up from the floor, effectively silenced.

A minute later, a piano song, moderately fast but sounding almost romantic, like it was meant for a fast-paced romantic dance, started playing from the speakers.

Rin and Haru turned to look at each other with something akin to horror in both of their eyes.

 

=

 

Rin was the one who moved first, driven by everyone’s expectant glares. He moved without thinking, grabbing Haru’s wrist almost delicately and maneuvering Haru around in a short spin.  

When Haru started moving, Rin moved with him.

The two of them moved in almost perfect sync, like it was as natural as breathing. Anyone who saw them would think they had been dancing together for years.

Rin lifted Haru up in the air and spun him around in time to the music, and Haru looked like he had expected it. When Rin fell back in time with the music, Haru caught him without looking and pulled him up like it was planned.

The person who was leading switched every few notes - one moment it was Rin, the other it was Haru.

They moved together perfectly - it was like Rin could sense what Haru was going to do next and vice versa. Their movements were flawlessly matched up with the music, and the song ended with Rin dripping Haru, then Haru grabbing Rin’s hand and spinning him.

Everyone in the studio was stunned into perfect silence, even Nagisa.

When Rin realized how _close_ his face was to Haru’s, and the fact that they were holding hands, and _shit why is his heart beating so fast_ , he immediately turned bright red, shoving himself away from Haru and pushing Haru to the ground in the process.

Haru looked slightly dazed as he got up, not even yelling at Rin.

The two of them moved to opposite sides of the studio, not meeting each other’s eyes.

“That was amazing, Rin, Haru,” Makoto said.

“Wow,” Nagisa breathed in awe.

“Beautiful,” Rei said, his expression stunned.

“Do it again!” Miss Amakata and Gou said in unision.

“NO!” Rin yelled.

Haru shook his head a couple of times in response.

“Is that the first time you two have actually agreed or what?” Makoto commented.

Rin and Haru finally looked at each other for the first time since their dance ended, and Rin promptly burst into laughter. Something that looked vaguely like a smile graced Haru’s face.

Three minutes later, they were walking out of the dance academy with Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and Gou, and arguing with each other again - this time about whether black or white was a better colour for a phone.

 

=

 

“Dad, I brought you chrysanthemums. It’s the November birth flower, which is suitable, since, well, it’s _November_ now, the end of it actually, and well, one of its meanings is ‘cheerfulness and rest.’ I hope you’re resting cheerfully? That doesn’t make any sense at all, but, well, there it is. I got you orangey-pinkish ones. They’re actually quite pretty, aren’t they? Very beautiful.”

He put the flowers onto the grave, sighed as he laid down on the ground.

“I danced with Haru at some point in mid-November. One of our instructors - Miss Amakata, she spends most of her time reading books - made us do it, as ‘punishment’ for arguing all the time or something. The song we were dancing to was nice, though, but it was some _romantic_ sounding song, a piano one, and, well, we ended up dancing really quickly with each other while holding hands? I spun him and lifted him up in the air. I have no idea what my body was even thinking. And, oh god, Dad, our faces were so close. I didn’t even notice until we were _finished_ the damn song. And dancing with him is kind of incredible, Dad, it’s like, I don’t know, I know exactly what he’s going to do next and I can move with those ethereal movements of his. My heart’s beating faster just thinking about it, Dad, why?”

Rin took a deep breath, breathed it out slowly with a sigh.

“Anyways, Haru and I still argue. All the time. Every day, every time we’re together. We take lunch breaks together when we have classes now, though, and he always orders _something_ with mackerel in it. He’s a weird guy, you know?”

Birds were flying over the grave, high in the sky.

“The amusement park opened yesterday, Dad. The new one. Gou’s trying to make plans for when we can _all_ go to it - even Nitori and Mikoshiba, but it’s been rather difficult because we’re all dancers and we’re all preparing for the Samezuka Dance Academy Winter Performance in December. It’s huge, really, the second biggest performance of the Academy. I’m doing a solo routine, and so’s Haru. I think Nagisa and Nitori are the soloists for their hip hop class’ group dance. Makoto is dancing with his class and then doing a duet with Mikoshiba or something. We’re all working like crazy.”

Rin scowled slightly.

“Speaking of Mikoshiba, he’s hanging out with us more and more lately. He has a huge crush on Gou, even I can see it. To be honest, Dad, I don’t like it. Gou shouldn’t have a girlfriend until she is older. Would you agree with me, Dad? I’m sure you would, if you were here.”

A pause.

“Anyways, Dad, November’s been great. Just like October, really, except I’ve pretty much been dancing non stop again. Preparing for the Winter Performance is a pretty big deal. The beginning of November was rather interesting, too, and Halloween. I should tell you about Halloween. Gou dragged us all out on Halloween night, and there were creepy decorations everywhere. Makoto was scared out of his mind, and he kept on clinging to Haru and I. We also went through some abandoned building near the pizza place where Sasabe works. Nagisa brought ‘purification salt,’ but he accidentally brought sugar - which was both hilarious and stupid. Rei was scared, too, when we went through the building - he kept saying stuff about how it ‘wasn’t beautiful.’ Jeez, that guy’s obsession with beauty. That was fun.”

Another pause, in which Rin sighed again.

“In the beginning of November, we went and visited a cafe that was dance themed, with Mikoshiba and Nitori. The place was nice, though Haru got mad because it had no mackerel. I think you might’ve liked the place. There was a stage where dancers perform, and Nagisa and Makoto went up and did routines. Mikoshiba did one too, and they got a whole lot of money for it. Tips, you know? Gou and Nagisa wanted Haru and I to do a duet but we both basically went _hell no_. It was a nice cafe, though, really chill. The music was good, too. I felt like it was a place you would’ve liked, Dad, for some reason.”

Rin grinned, showing off his sharp teeth.

“Oh, and we went to the CD shop again…”

He talked until his throat felt hoarse and he couldn’t think of anything to say anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

_part five._

_the one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing._

_(- James Brown)_

Samezuka Dance Academy was in a complete frenzy.

There were two _huge,_ absolutely _very big deal_ performances at Samezuka Dance Academy - one in December, one in June. The one in June was marginally more important, as more scouts came to watch the one in June, but the performance in December was just as important. There were scouts in December, too. December was when the first impression was made, June was when the scouts finalized the decisions.

And so, every December and every June, Samezuka Dance Academy turned into some kind of madhouse of chaos.

It was suddenly much more crowded than usual, empty studios were rare, _everyone_ was doing extra rehearsals and practice, different types of music flowed out of studios and mixed in the hallways, and pieces of dance costumes were everywhere. _Everywhere._

The atmosphere was rather familiar to Rin, who had gone through numerous of these _preparing for a huge performance_ _weeks_ in Australia, but Haru seemed to be mildly shocked by the chaos.

“I don’t see why everyone is so worried,” Haru said, frowning slightly as he tripped over a feather boa and a stack of pom poms in the hallway.

Rin reached out a hand to steady him without even looking. “These performances are a big deal to everyone. _You_ might not understand it, but they are. For a lot of people, it’s their only chance to be discovered, to go pro.”

They were walking back to studio four after the lunch break they always took together during class days, and the entire Academy was full of people and props and costumes and music.

“Dancing is not something people should get competitive and worked up about,” Haru said, sounding very philosophical, “Dancing is something people should do free.”

Rin shook his head, kicking a masquerade mask out of the way. “You still make no sense to me, you know that?”

“Rin, you take dancing very seriously as well. You don’t dance very free.”

“…what is that even supposed to mean, you weirdo?”

They walked up a flight of stairs, cluttered with empty CD cases and rejected props, and Rin pushed open the door to studio four.

They walked into the studio together, Haru trailing slightly behind him. In the studio were the other members of their class - who were really only around for five hours a day, usually, but were now spending just as much time in studio four as Rin and Haru.

Chiyo, a rather talented dancer who had started at Samezuka a little while before Rin had, was currently practicing her ballet routine, in costume.

Everyone else was sitting off to the sides, letting her have the entire studio.

She danced with a practiced grace, with an elegance almost particular to ballet dancers, wearing a delicate, pale pink costume detailed with lace. She was dressed as a princess and looked like one, complete with a tiara on top of her hair.

“We’re doing a kind of practice recital,” Miss Amakata informed Rin and Haru. She was holding a book and standing by the doorway of the studio. “Aoyagi is going next, and then Hajime. Then you two can do your solos.”

“I’d prefer not to do something like this,” Haru said, and Rin sighed, dropping down on the floor.

“If Haru’s not doing it, I won’t.”

“Please refrain from copying me, Rin.”

“I’m not _copying_ you, I would actually prefer not to do it as well!”

“I never thought you would be the type to get stage fright.”

Rin stiffened, turned his head away. “Shut up, Haru.”

“Why are you two still arguing even though you obviously get along so well?” Miss Amakata sighed, as Chiyo ended her rountine. “All right, you two don’t have to do this. Take it as special privileges for always attending the classes and using up all the time available.”

“We don’t get along well,” Haru and Rin said in perfect unison, before turning their attention back to Aoyagi, who was currently getting ready to do his routine.

Miss Amakata shook her head.

 

=

 

The days passed by at unfathomable speed, filled with dancing and rehearsing and choosing dance costumes - _no, Rin, you cannot wear this leopard print, it doesn’t go with your routine; Haru, no, you need to dress up_ \- short breaks for food, dancing, choosing of props, more dancing, dancing, and dancing.

The day of the Winter Performance came much faster than anyone could’ve expected, and on the night of the Performance, the only person calm in the entire Dance Academy was probably Haru.

The backstage of the performance hall was a cluttered mess even worse than the Academy itself, and there weren’t enough dressing rooms to go around.

All the students of studio four were stuffed into one dressing room. There were seven in total, including Rin and Haru, and it was cramped. Extremely.

Rin was idly smoothing out wrinkles in his costume while sprawled out on the dressing room’s ugly green couch, and Haru was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking completely emotionless and listening to music on his phone.

The three girls in the class had taken over the makeup tables, talking to each other about the lack of space, different makeup brands, and the new movies on. The two other guys apart from Haru and Rin were on their phones, sitting on the floor and occasionally talking to each other about ballet.

Most of the costumes were hung up on the walls, props scattered everywhere. They were the Advanced class, and their solos were all saved for near the end. It was an hour before the actual show started, and everyone was being rather chill and calm.

Rin cringed, thinking of how it would get with seven performers in one tiny room once the show actually _started._ The tiny TV taking up space on the wall showed the current view of the stage, and the stage was currently being swept and tidied, the lights being adjusted, and the speakers were being tested.

The auditorium that they were going to be performing in that night was huge, though the backstage was severely lacking in space. Miss Amakata had said that the auditorium for the Summer Performance would be bigger, with much more space.

 _Thank god for that,_ Rin thought.

There were fifty minutes until the show started, probably hours until it was his turn to perform.

He pulled out his phone, staring at the onslaught of excited messages from Gou.

There was time to kill.

 

=

 

It was two performances before Rin’s solo routine and he was currently freaking out.

Stage fright and freaking out before performances had always been an issue of his, though he took great care to keep it hidden. He was constantly afraid that he would mess up, falter, forget what to do.

The only people in his class who hadn’t gone yet were Hajime, him, and Haru - Hajime was going up a performance after him, Haru right after Hajime. Makoto, Mikoshiba, Nitori, Nagisa, and Rei had all already performed, and Haru and him had watched the routines on the small TV together while sitting on the ugly green couch.

He was dressed in his costume - an oversized, purposely ruffled black dress suit with a loose red tie, and black dress pants. (Miss Amakata had been completely against the leopard print jacket he had been planning on going with, but she had allowed him to wear the black shoes with red soles he had wanted). His makeup was being done by Chiyo - bless her - and he was currently trying not to hyperventilate.

_Oh, god._

_What if I mess up what if I fall what if everyone laughs what if there is a malfunction what if the stage breaks and I fall into the center of the Earth? What happens then? Oh god what am I going to do wait no Rin stop freaking out Rin this is not good Rin stop talking to yourself -_

“Rin, you’re shaking,” Chiyo said gently, tapping the soft makeup brush against his cheek and bringing Rin back to his senses. “It’s okay. You’ll do fine.”

“I’ll do your hair,” another girl in the class - Hatsumi, a jazz dancer - offered. She smiled softly at Rin, picked up a comb from the dressing table. “You’re a good dancer, Rin, I’ve seen you. So calm down.”

Rin had never been particularly close with any of the people in his class (except maybe Haru). The way he practiced nonstop baffled most people, and in most of the dance classes he went to, they would call him a weirdo and ignore him. But in Samezuka Dance Academy’s special class, freeform class, whatever it was called - he had never been close with any of them, but they had never shunned him, either.

Rin was noticing just now how everyone in the class, with completely different dance styles and leading completely different lives, quietly supported each other and helped each other when it was needed. It was new, and he wondered why he had never really noticed the dynamic between the other dancers in the class.

He was still shaking, though, and his body wouldn’t stop.

He looked in the mirror and realized that Hatsumi had put Chiyo’s tiara on his head, and it suited him irritatingly well.

Then he realized everyone else in the dressing room, with the exception of Haru, was snickering at the sight of the tiara on his head.

Kokoa - a contemporary dancer - was standing beside Hatsumi now, poking at the tiara while silently laughing.

Aoyagi, a ballet dancer who was normally quiet, had a huge grin on his face and was laughing as he helped Hajime - a ballet and jazz dancer - put on his costume. Hajime was currently laughing so hard that he was bent over.

“Hey, Matsuoka, you look really wonderful in that tiara. It suits you.” Hajime said teasingly, grinning brightly at Rin. “The Princess of the Freeform Class.”

“What kind of nickname is that? Just call him the Princess,” Kokoa shot back as she rearranged the tiara on Rin’s head. “He looks beautiful, doesn’t he?”

“This is all my wonderful work,” Hatsumi said as she gently rubbed mousse into Rin’s hair, careful not to touch the tiara. “You all should praise me.”

“It’s beautiful on you, Rin, you should wear it on stage. Though maybe we need to embellish it with rubies to make it suit your outfit,” Chiyo laughed.

Rin flushed red, batting Chiyo’s hand away. “Guys.”

“Matsuoka, we’re laughing _with_ you, not _at_ you. You’re going to kill it out there, because you’re an amazing dancer and you’re in the special class with us for a reason,” Kokoa smiled at Rin’s reflecting in the mirror. She adjusted the tiara on his head.

On the TV, the current performance ended and the next performance started. Rin was going to be up in three minutes.

“So, go kill it out there,” Chiyo added, putting more finishing touches on Rin’s makeup. “Knock them all out -.”

“ _Princess_ _,_ ” Hajime finished her sentence for her, and everyone in the dressing room burst into laughter, even Aoyagi.

Rin turned his head slightly to look at Haru, who was currently sprawled out over the green couch. Haru had a hint of a smile on his face as he looked at Rin.

Then Rin laughed too, loudly and brightly, feeling the nervousness in his stomach slowly dissipate.

 

=

 

When it was his turn to go out on stage, Rin didn’t feel nervous at all anymore. The tiara had been taken off his head by Aoyagi when he had left the dressing room, and for his entrance, the stage lights had dimmed to almost nothing.

He closed his eyes, remembered everyone else’s performances. Nagisa, Nitori, and Rei’s class doing the opening routine, with Nitori and Nagisa as the soloists. Nagisa and Rei doing jazz two routines after and Nagisa looking extremely awkward but faking it well enough, and with Rei looking extremely in his element. Makoto’s popping class doing a stunning routine, Mikoshiba and Makoto’s duet that made half the crowd clap and cheer.

He moved as soon as the music started, matching his movements to the beats in the background. He let himself be lost in the music, repeating the steps of his routine in his head and following them.

The nervousness was gone as soon as he started dancing, and he moved across the stage, each step of his carefully planned choreography clear in his head. He loosened his tie even more, did a perfect backflip, matched his pace with the music.

As the music echoed and faded away, he did one final backflip, and ended with his arms outstretched to the crowd.

When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by claps and cheers. Screaming.

A standing ovation.

Rin let a huge grin take over his face, fully exposing his shark teeth, and laughed, waving as he walked off the stage.

_That went fine. I did great._

_It’s almost Haru’s turn._

 

=

 

Haru looked amazing even on the tiny, grainy TV screen.

The entire class was gathered around the screen, watching him dance, most especially Rin.

The song started slowly, with sharp beats, and Haru moved with his eyes closed, with that natural ease of his. He moved with the music, slowly, almost sensually, nodding his head to the beat.

When the song sped up, he moved with it, moving faster and faster with the music, throwing random hip hop moves into it, and when the song slowed again, he reacted perfectly in time.

The way he moved was entrancing, drawing everyone who watched him in. When he moved with the quicker parts of the song, he threw in tiny, rapidly done backflips, and flipped his hair back and forth - a quirk that Rin had never seen before, and was disturbingly attractive.

When the song finally ended and Haru stopped moving, the entire auditorium was sitting in a stunned silence.

And then it exploded with cheers and screams and claps, people standing up and yelling Haru’s name.

Haru came back to the dressing room three minutes later, after a full minute of people clapping and cheering for him. His costume - a pale blue shirt with loose sleeves and a deep V neck, black dress pants - was slightly ruffled and disheveled, as was his hair.

As soon as he came into the dressing room, everyone pounced on him, gifting him with compliments and hugs and fist pumps and ruffles of his hair. Rin stayed on the couch, biting back the sharp jealousy that had risen within him.

Haru flopped back onto the couch, next to Rin, his face blank and emotionless.

“You did good,” Rin said quietly. “You did amazing. They loved you.”

Rin’s words were straightforward, with no insults.

Haru’s dancing had been naturally flawless, honed from natural talent and practice. Rin couldn’t find anything to insult even if he had tried.

His own dancing, compared to Haru’s, wasn’t all that impressive at all, despite all the years he had spent working and the hours he had spent shedding sweat and tears, practicing until he collapsed.

_How is that fair?_

_Rin, why are you feeling jealous now?_ Rin shook his head, tried to clear his mind of the thoughts.

There was a knock on the dressing room door, and Hajime went to open it.

A man, dressed in a black suit and black tie, walked into the room. He was holding a video camera, a smartphone. “Is Haruka Nanase in here?”

“Yes,” Chiyo said. She gestured towards Haru. “He’s right there. Uh, do you need something?”

The man sent a small smile towards Haru, looking quite pleased. “I’m from Juilliard.”

Rin stiffened, his hands clenching into fists.

“You were quite impressive out there, Nanase-san. Still a bit rough around the edges, but overall, extremely impressive. With a bit of polishing, you’ll be able to rise to the top at Juilliard without a problem. You’re not quite ready yet, but in a couple of months, you could. I can feel it. We’ll be sending scouts back for the Summer Performance, and they’ll be keeping an eye on you. Haruka Nanase.”

With that, the man left, and the dressing room burst into excitement again, everyone surrounding Haru.

Rin stood up and slammed his fist into the wall, ignoring the stinging of pain.

He was angry.

 _Haru has never been as serious about dancing as I was. He danced for fun, danced for free, whatever that means. I’ve danced since I was six, worked myself to tears since I was nine. I endured the taunts and laughs in Australia for years. I worked so, so, hard, and yet the one they recognize is_ Haru _? How is that fair? How is that even fair? Do they know how many hours I’ve spent working to become the best, to become perfect? Do they know how many times I’ve danced until my feet were blistered and bleeding, only to wrap them up in bandages and keep on dancing?_

 _Why is it that_ Haru _is the one who got recognized by Juilliard and not me? My piece was perfect. It was perfectly executed. Why?_

Rin took a deep breath. Everyone was staring at him at shock now, even Haru.

“I hate you,” he said to Haru, his voice bitter and scathing and not his own. “I hate you so much.”

He grabbed his things and walked out of the dressing room, out of the auditorium, without looking back.

He didn’t see Haru jump up and run after him, reaching out his arm, didn’t hear Haru yell out his name.

A day later, he switched out of the freeform dance class and into an advanced contemporary course, held in studio six on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

 

=

 

“Petunias, Dad. They mean anger and resentment.”

Snow was falling now, and Rin scowled bitterly as he brushed the snow off the tombstone.

“They’re out of season, but I found some.”

He laid down in the snow, not caring if he got a cold.

“Haru’s probably going to Juilliard, Dad. The amazing Haru. They noticed him but they didn’t even spare a glance at me.”

Rin stayed in the snow until it got colder and colder, and the sky grew darker and darker.

He didn’t say another word.

 

=

 

Haru stopped dancing when he was in class, opting to sit on the side and watch everyone else dance.

When Miss Amakata told him to dance, he did, but the easy grace and effortlessly entrancing movements were gone.

He still danced beautifully, but it seemed lacking - and he stumbled twice in his movements, ended the song slightly off beat.

Haru didn’t speak very much anymore, even when Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto talked to him. He nodded, grunted, responded when absolutely required.

He didn’t dance all the time anymore, and his street dance performances with Nagisa, Makoto, and Rei drew less and less people.

 

=

 

“Onii-chan.”

Rin kept on dancing, ignoring his sister. His movements were cold, quick, long and beautiful. He spun around and moved and followed the choreography to perfection, not missing a single beat.

When he finished, he turned to look at the contemporary instructor with expectant eyes.

She sighed, shook her head slightly. “Matsuoka, your movements and dancing are beautiful. Technically perfect. But they severely lack emotion, passion. They’re cold. You used to dance with fire.” She moved to turn the lights off in the studio. “Class is over. Remember, Matsuoka. As Martha Graham once said, ‘Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.’”

The lights in the studio turned off and Gou watched, her eyes worried, as Rin cursed and grabbed his duffel bag, walking out of the studio with a scowl on his face.

He didn’t spare Gou a single look.


	6. Chapter 6

_part six._

_dance first. think later. it’s the natural order._

_( - Samuel Beckett)_

 

“Haru, I’m getting worried about you,” Makoto opened the door to Haru’s bathroom to reveal Haru soaking in the bathtub, wearing waterproof earbuds connected to his waterproof mp3 player.

Haru didn’t reply or react, probably because he couldn’t hear Makoto over the sound of his music.

“Haru, it’s been a week since the Winter Performance and you haven’t even left the house.”

No reply.

Makoto sighed and walked over to the bathtub, yanking Haru’s earbuds out of his ears rather harshly. “Haru, you have to _get out of the tub_. You can’t just occasionally attend dance classes and then spend the rest of your time _soaking in a bathtub listening to music._ Honestly.”

“I finished my finals,” Haru said in a deadpan, looking up at Makoto with an unimpressed look. “I’m fine in terms of schoolwork. It’s Winter Break.” He put his earphones back into his ears, but Makoto just yanked them out again.

“No, Haru, listen to me. It’s not an issue of _school_ , it’s an issue of spending practically _all your time_ in the bathroom. I didn’t try to drag you out before, but you’re coming outside today.”

“Haru,” Makoto sighed. He looked down.“Please get out of the bath. And would you care to explain to me why in the world you’re wearing a _swimsuit_ in the bath?”

“Rin said he liked swimming, too. We both agreed that if not for dancing, we probably would’ve both gone for swimming. His stroke’s the butterfly. Also, water is calming,” Haru replied, a bunch of sentences strung together that just barely made sense.

“That doesn’t explain much, Haru. Get out of the tub. Do you even know what day it is?”

Haru leaned back in the tub, closing his eyes. “Rin reminds me of a shark, with his teeth. He once said I reminded him of a dolphin. We once argued about what water animals everyone else would be. He told me I was a dolphin.”

“Haru. No. I didn’t ask that.” Makoto let out a long sigh. “You don’t know what day it is, do you?”

“Am I supposed to?”

“Haru, it’s _New Year’s Eve._ _”_

“That’s wonderful, Makoto.”

“You’re not spending the first couple minutes of New Year’s alone in a bathtub with music. We’re going to the festival tonight.” Makoto paused, “It was Nagisa’s idea, and if I can’t convince you, he said that we’d just have to force you.”

Haru had his earphones back in his ears again, and he wasn’t listening anymore.

 

=

 

“Onii-chan.” Gou had been sitting in the corner of the studio for a good five minutes, but Rin hadn’t been paying any attention whatsoever to her.

A couple more seconds passed, with Rin practicing footwork and ignoring everything around him.

Gou sighed, walked over to Rin and grabbed his arm, stopping him from dancing. “ONII-CHAN! YOU IDIOT! Since the Winter Performance, all you’ve been doing is dancing non stop! I can see the blood stains on your shoes and the way the soles are all worn out. I noticed the extra bandages you kept sneaking into your duffel bag. Do you even know what day it is? Why are you spending your Winter Break like this?”

_I need to beat Haru. I need to go to Juilliard. I need to become the best._

“Go away, Gou.”

“Onii-chan!”

_Stupid Haru with his stupid dancing and his stupid barely there smile and the way he always responded to my words -_

Rin scowled, knocking his sister’s hand away.

The very thought of Haru made his heart beat faster and a feeling of something he couldn’t describe rise up within him.

“Onii-chan! It’s New Year’s Eve! We have to go to the festival tonight. You always came back for New Year’s when you were in Australia. We always went to the festival together!”

Rin huffed.

 _“Dad’s_ the one who started that tradition. We always visited his grave, too.”

Rin stiffened, looked down at his sister.

_Damn you, Gou. Since when did you learn how to manipulate me so well?_

“And you’re being an _idiot_ again, onii-chan. Just when I thought you were being more friendly you suddenly decide to shut us all out again. Mom was getting happier, too, you know.” Gou pouted, and Rin let out a long sigh.

The anger that had been so bright and burning a week ago had gradually faded to a sort of dull ache, an emptiness. Haru had indented himself into his life so hard that it felt empty without him around, but it’s not like Rin would ever admit that. After all, he was the one who had ran away in the first place, the one who had gotten angry.

_I want to see Haru dance again._

Rin shook his head, sighing again. “Sorry,” he said, his voice softer, gentler. Just because he was furious at _Haru_ and his stupid _perfection_ didn’t mean he could suddenly go back to being cold to his sister. “Yeah. Okay. I, uh,” he stuttered the words out awkwardly, like he couldn’t believe he was saying them, “I, uh, think I’ve practiced enough. Let’s go do something, okay, Gou?”

Gou jumped with slight surprise, but started grinning immediately after.

“Okay, onii-san! It’s around Lunch, so let’s go get some fried rice, there’s a place that’s open on New Year’s Eve. And then we can go buy you new sneakers, because the ones you have right now are so worn out it’s not even funny. We should get you some disinfectant and bandages, too, and, oh, let’s go shopping for clothes! And then we can go to the festival!” Gou clung onto Rin’s arm tighter, starting to drag him out of the dance studio. “Come on, let’s go. The studio’s empty anyways. It’s New Year’s Eve. It’s like, obligation to spend it with your family.”

Rin smiled slightly for the first time in what seemed like ages, grabbing his duffel bag as he let his sister drag him out of the studio.

“Okay,” he said, smiling almost fondly, “Let’s do that.”

 

=

 

The festival was crowded (of course), Nagisa wouldn’t stop talking (as usual), and there were much too many people and Haru would actually very much prefer not to be there, but unfortunately, he didn’t really have a choice.

Makoto had a hand gently on his arm, as did Rei. It was like they were restraining him so that he didn’t run away.

“Let’s play some games at the booths! Rei-chan, win me some prizes!” Nagisa was in a frenzy, running around and pointing at everything, like a little kid. “Oh! Takoyaki! Mako-chan, look, it’s food!”

Haru frowned slightly as he was shuttled around in the crowd.

In the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of wine red hair, and stiffened immediately, turning to look.

There was nothing there, of course, in a river of constantly moving people, and Makoto looked at him worriedly, nudged his shoulder. “Haru, you alright?”

Haru nodded, kept on moving.

_Is Rin here? Is he here right now?_

 

=

 

Rin adjusted the gun on his shoulder, and shot at a target.

Gou stood next to him, looking both bored and mildly impressed, and holding a large pile of huge stuffed animals.

Rin had gathered a large crowd by now - once he saw a booth boasting large stuffed animals, he had told Gou to stop, and then proceeded to easily win four stuffed animals in a row - a penguin, an orca, a butterfly, and a shark.

Gou hadn’t questioned why he chose those in particular, and he hadn’t told her. People looked on, looking rather impressed as Rin shot a target perfectly.

The man manning the booth shook his head as he handed Rin the last stuffed animal of his request - the dolphin.

“Onii-san, why did you get so many stuffed animals?” Gou asked, throwing the shark at Rin.

Rin caught it, shrugged. “I don’t know. The game seemed interesting. I won prizes. They only had stuffed animals. That’s about it.”

_“Makoto is an orca.”_

_“Orca?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Rei is a goldfish.”_

_“You told me Rei couldn’t swim. Wouldn’t he be more like a butterfly?”_

_“Nagisa’s a penguin.”_

_“That I agree with.”_

_“Rei’s still a goldfish, though.”_

_“You idiot, he’s so obviously a butterfly. He can’t even swim.”_

_“Would we have ever met if we had both done swimming?”_

_“I don’t know, Haru, who knows?”_

_“I think you’d be like a shark when you’re in the water. Because of your teeth.”_

_“Is that a jab at my teeth?”_

_“It might be.”_

_“Then you’d be like a dolphin, Haru.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Wouldn’t you move in the water like you dance? In your own way, without thinking? I don’t know. I think you’d be rather like a dolphin.”_

Rin clutched the dolphin animal close as Gou pointed out random stalls. “Besides, does it really matter? They’re pretty decent quality stuffed animals. If you can’t carry them, give them to some random kid.”

Gou shrugged, “You were pretty good at that game, though. The prizes are big, so I’ve heard people say it was really hard.”

Rin shrugged.

“Oh, there’s a huge crowd up over there, in the clearing - let’s go check it out, onii-chan! Maybe there’s something interesting.”

Street dancing. The crowd was gathered around _street dancers_ in the clearing.

And of _course_ those street dancers had to be Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei.

And of _course_ the one dancing was currently Haru.

Did the universe love playing with Rin or was this just an incredible twist of fate?

Haru was dancing with his eyes closed, so he didn’t see Rin, but Makoto did - Makoto standing off to the side. His eyes locked with Rin’s immediately, and two seconds later, Makoto had walked up to Gou and Rin.

“Hey,” Makoto smiled gently. “Gou. Rin. How have you been?”

“Makoto!” Gou shoved the stuffed animals in her arms into Makoto’s arms, before running off somewhere into the depths of the crowd. “I didn’t know you guys were doing a performance!”

“It wasn’t planned. Nagisa started dancing and he drew a crowd,” Makoto laughed. He turned to Rin, “What’s with all the stuffed animals?”

“Won them,” Rin replied gruffly. “At a booth.”

“Impressive. Rin. Could you, uh, come with me for a bit?”

“Okay…” Rin answered hesitantly, and the next thing he knew, he was following Makoto off into the crowd.

“You want to get takoyaki and some drinks?”

“Yeah, okay. Can I have an iced coffee?”

Makoto stopped at a food booth, ordered two servings of takoyaki, an iced coffee, and a soda. Rin was the one who paid, though, stepping forward before Makoto could pull his wallet out.

Rin carried all the food, too, because Makoto’s arms were overflowing with stuffed animals.

They must’ve looked rather ridiculous, in hindsight - two teenage boys walking while holding a bunch of stuffed animal toys and food.

Makoto was the one who led the way, through the crowd and deeper and deeper into the festival, until they were at a mostly isolated spot with picnic tables, hidden behind a row of booths and surrounded by trees.

The stuffed animals and food were promptly deposited onto the table, and then they sat down across from each other - Rin and Makoto - and started eating their food silently.

“Rin…did, uh, something happen between you and Haru?” Makoto finally said, after a minute of complete silence. He took a sip from his soda.

“I guess you could say that, yes.” Rin speared a piece of takoyaki with a toothpick and ate it.

“Um, well, I’m not going to ask about what happened because I really don’t want to pry, but, well, we all miss you, so, do you want to, maybe, make up?”

“Maybe someday,” Rin replied, taking a sip from his iced coffee.

“Uh, is that a _soon_ someday or a _in ten years_ someday?”

“Maybe somewhere in between.”

Makoto sighed, tapping his fingers against the table. “Well. I’m not going to force you, but I’ll tell you that he misses you, even though he won’t say it.” A pause, as Makoto stared at Rin’s face. “And you miss him, too.”

Rin lifted his head to look at Makoto, red irises shocked.

“I can tell,” Makoto said, with an almost secretive smile.

 

=

 

That night, Rin and Haru watched the fireworks on the same hilltop, three meters away from each other.

Gou stood next to Rin, Makoto next to Haru.

The two of them didn’t look at each other once.

 

=

 

“Your dance is still lacking _passion_ , Rin.” The contemporary instructor sighed, tapping her pen against the notepad she was holding. “It’s technically executed to perfection. Everything refined to its highest quality. But - it’s cold. There’s nothing there. Your dance is beautiful, but it seems empty.”

Rin cast his eyes down to the studio floor, not looking at the instructor.

“You used to dance with burning _fire_ , Rin. I’ve seen you. You’re one of the best students in the Academy, even though you haven’t been here for very long, compared to other students. What exactly happened?”

Rin shook his head, not responding.

The instructor sighed again and walked out of the dance studio.  

Gou, standing by the doorway, looked up at Rin, her eyes worried. “Onii-san - .”

Rin brushed her off with a slightly sad smile, picking up his duffel bag. “I’m fine, Gou. You don’t have to worry.”

 

=

 

Haru was dancing to his usual perfection, not missing a single beat. Each of his movements were elegant, graceful. He danced like he did before, but it still felt like something was lacking. Like something vital was missing.

Miss Amakata shook her head, smiled gently at Haru. “That was wonderful, Haru.”

She didn’t mention anything about _lacking_ or _not feeling quite right_ , but Haru could read it in her tone.

 

=

 

“I am so done with those two idiots,” Gou whined, twirling her ramen noodles around with her chopsticks. “It’s been almost a month. _They’re never going to speak to each other again unless some drastic things happen_ _.”_

Nagisa and Gou were currently sitting across from each other in a booth, in a ramen place near Samezuka Academy. They were having lunch, and discussing Rin and Haru.

“I know,” Nagisa rolled his eyes, “Haru’s just been, well, I don’t know. He hasn’t changed much, but he’s reverted back to before-Rin mode. And he seems a lot more _sad._ ”

“Rin’s an idiot who won’t admit he misses Haru and has too much pride to apologize.”

“ _Idiots._ ”

“I know,” Gou shook her head. “We need to do _something._ ”

“We?”

“Yes, we.”

“Hell yeah, we gonna play matchmaker?”

“You can call it that, if you want,” Gou pulled a notebook out of her bag. “Ideas?”

“None of us have been to that new amusement park yet, right?”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“Then let’s make it something to do with that.”

“Okay.”

“Hell yes,” Nagisa grinned as Gou started scribbling in her notebook. “Operation ‘Get Sharkboy and Haru-chan Together’ has officially…been…uh, officialized?”

“Don’t call my brother Sharkboy.”

“Then Operation ‘Get Red Eyed Dancer Rin-chan and Blue Eyed Dancer Haru-chan Together.’ Or, uh, GREDRABEDHT. _Gredrabedht_.”

“You’re just as much of an idiot as those two are, Nagisa.”

 

=

 

About two weeks later, Makoto was dragging Haru into an amusement park.

“Makoto,” Haru said, “Why are we in an amusement park? You told me there would be dancing.”

“Technically,” Makoto rubbed the back of his head nervously, “Nagisa texted me and told me to tell you that there would be dancing. It may or may not have been a lie.”

“Makoto.”

“I didn’t lie, Haru! There _are_ dance performances in amusement parks! I’m so sorry!”

“Ah! Mako-chan! Haru-chan! You’re here!” Nagisa came running up to the entrance, dragging along a Rei that looked like he was about to puke. “Rei-chan and I just went on the Corkscrew like roller coaster!”

“This…is not beautiful,” Rei choked out, crumbling to the ground.

Makoto moved to catch him. “Nagisa, you shouldn’t force people into things they don’t want to do.”

“Haru-chan! Let’s go on the water rollercoaster ride! You like water, too, right?”

With that, Nagisa proceeded in immediately dragging all of them on a whirlwind of rides and carnival booths, without giving Haru a second to even object.

 

=

 

Rin tilted the pink cotton candy over so that Gou could take a bite out of it.

“Cotton candy is the best, onii-san.”

“Yeah, well, I’m the one who bought it,” Rin said gruffly.

“Thank you, onii-san.”

“Why are we at the amusement park anyways, Gou?”

“Uh, well, because I haven’t been here yet and I thought coming here with my onii-san would be fun!”

“Are you trying to butter me up for something?” Rin tilted his head to the side questioningly. He paused, a horrified look crossing over his face. “Do you have a _boyfriend_? Is it Mikoshiba?”

Gou’s face flushed bright red. “Onii-san! What are you saying?”

“You’d better not,” Rin shoved some of the cotton candy into his own mouth. He let the fluff melt in his mouth before speaking again. “Have a boyfriend, I mean.”

“You can act a bit more excited, you know,” Gou pouted, changing the subject. “I know you adore amusement parks. Mom told me. She has so many pictures of you at amusement parks when you were younger. You used to beg her to take you to amusement parks, and you used to always say that cotton candy was your ‘absolute favourite food.’”

Rin’s faced turned red and he turned away, scowled. “Don’t bring stuff like that up now!”

“Okay, onii-san. Hey, let’s go on the bumper cars!”

“Of all the rides, you choose the _bumper cars?_ ”

“What’s wrong with bumper cars?”

“Nothing…”

“Let’s go, then!” Gou said with a bright smile, grabbing Rin’s arm.

Rin let a tiny smile take over his face as Gou dragged him along.

 

=

 

“Again, Nagisa?” Makoto asked, as Nagisa gestured wildly and enthusiastically towards the pirate ship. “We’ve been on that thing five times already.”

“The pirate ship is so _fun_ , though, Mako-chan! It goes _whoosh_! And then it goes _whoosh!_ And then it goes _whooooooosh!_ And then it _flies_! And then it _whooshes_ again - .”

“Nagisa, we understand,” Makoto cut Nagisa off before he could say any more.

Rei was slumped against Makoto, looking rather green as Makoto helped him stay up.

“Not…beautiful,” Rei groaned.

“It’s late, Nagisa. The sun’s about to set,” Makoto said, glancing at his watch.

“Is it?” Nagisa pulled out his phone and stared at it for a moment, tapped at the buttons. “Oh. Well. I want to stay here a _bit_ longer. It’s a Saturday, does it really matter?”

“Except for the fact that we all have homework and dance classes tomorrow, not particularly.” Makoto replied.

“Okay, then let’s stay here longer! We can go out for dinner later together, all of us! Now! Pirate ship!”

Makoto glanced at Rei, whose face had grown even paler. “Actually, you and Haru can go on the pirate ship, Nagisa. I’m going to go find some medicine for Rei.”

“Oh, okay,” Nagisa clung onto Haru’s arm. “Pirate ship, Haru-chan!”

In his pocket, his phone chimed with a text from Gou.

_Operation commence._

 

=

 

“Gou, why are we walking towards the ferris wheel?”

“ _Because_ , onii-chan, a day to the amusement park is not complete unless you ride something that very slowly lets you go up high and enjoy the scenery.”

“That’s weird logic,” Rin sighed, following his little sister along. “But okay. After the Ferris Wheel, though, we’re leaving. Sun’s starting to set, and we’ve been here all day.”

“You had fun, though, didn’t you, onii-chan?” Gou grinned, and Rin smiled softly.

“Yeah,” he replied.

_We were originally supposed to come here with Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and Haru. Haru…_

“You’re late!” Rin heard a very familiar voice call out, and his head snapped up immediately.

Standing in front of the huge Ferris Wheel, which currently had a couple of riders but no line, was Nagisa, with Haru in tow.

_Haru?!_

“Well, I’m _sorry._ The walk took longer than expected. Nothing can always go to plan, so don’t blame me!” Gou yelled back.

“ _I_ was on time and according to plan, Gou-chan!”

“It’s _Kou_!”

Before Rin and Haru could release the onslaught of questions they had onto Gou and Nagisa, they found themselves being shoved into a ferris wheel car.

Gou slammed the door shut, and waved at the car as it started moving.

The last thing Rin and Haru heard before the door shut was Nagisa running over to the Ferris Wheel operator and saying, “Hey, Mister, do you mind making the Ferris Wheel go extra slow? And make it stop and be stuck. In many, many, different places. Please.”

 

=

 

The atmosphere inside the Ferris Wheel was awkward. Incredibly awkward. Unbelievably awkward.

Rin and Haru were sitting across from each other, both of them stiff and unmoving, not sure how to handle the situation.

Rin felt an urge to break the glass and jump out of the car itself.

Surprisingly, Haru was the one who spoke first. “Hi. Rin.”

Their eyes met for the first time in what seemed like forever, and Rin swallowed, shifted around nervously. “Haru.”

It was quiet for another couple of moments, before Haru spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Rin. I’m sorry for making you mad.”

Rin jerked his head up, surprised.

_Sorry? Why are you the one who’s sorry? I should be sorry!_

“You idiot,” Rin ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his head. “ _I’m_ the one who got mad. It was all _me_. Why are _you_ apologizing? I’m sorry for saying that I hated you. I didn’t mean it. It was just…” He trailed off, sighed. “It was all my big issue. I’m sorry.”

Haru opened his mouth to speak, but Rin kept on talking.

“I lost it after that Juilliard scout came to look for you. My Dad - you see, my Dad was the one who taught me how to dance. My Dad was an incredible dancer, I looked up to him so much. His dream was to go to Juilliard - become a world famous dancer, dance in the Olympic ceremonies. I swore on his grave that I would carry on his dream, after he died.” He swallowed again, trying to ignore the prickly feeling of tears behind his eyes.

“He died…on a train. On the way to a Juilliard audition. The train had some kind of malfunction, caught on fire, went off the rails over a bridge. I don’t really remember the exact details. He was on his way to his dream and then he died. That’s not quite…fair, is it? I loved dancing because of my Dad. He taught me how to love dancing. I - I swore to him I would carry on his dream, go to Juilliard. That’s why, when the Juilliard scout didn’t even look at me, I got so mad. So, uh, I’m sorry.” Rin leaned back in his seat, let out a sigh.

Haru didn’t say anything, only leaned over and wiped away a tear that had escaped from Rin’s eyes. His hands were gentle, incredibly careful.

“My Grandma taught me how to dance,” Haru said suddenly. “She was the one who raised me. My Mom and Dad were - _are_ always overseas on business trips. They’re overseas right now, actually, so I’m always alone. So my Grandma raised me, and taught me how to dance. Dancing was the only thing I had to keep me company - dancing and my Grandma. I got into swimming for a bit, but dancing was the first thing that made me kind of happy, so I stuck with dancing. When my Grandma died, dancing was the only thing I had left, so I got…very into it. That’s how I started dancing. That’s why I continued it. It helps me feel…less lonely.”

“Yeah, I get that feeling,” Rin nodded. “In Australia, I was looked down on and shunned a lot. Dancing was the only thing I had. I went to Australia to improve my dancing. I was there for years, and grew up there.”

“So you’re good at English, then?”

“I suppose so.”

They were talking more naturally now, bantering - going back to their usual way of talking, minus the insults and arguments. Both of them were less tense, more relaxed.

“I actually really liked swimming for a while, too,” Rin said, “Learned how to swim butterfly and adored it.”

“I only swam free. Freestyle.” Haru said, and Rin started laughing, leaning his head against the glass of the ferris wheel car.

“That’s so like you, Haru.”

“Makoto brought back a bunch of stuffed animals from the New Year’s festival. He told me that you gave them the stuffed animals, and told me to choose one.” A pause, as Haru turned to look out of the ferris wheel car to the landscape below. “I chose the shark.”

“I won another one, too, you know. There were five in total.” Rin laced his fingers together and stared down at his hands for a moment. “I kept the dolphin.”

Haru smiled, a real, genuine smile. “Would we have met if we had both done swimming, Rin?”

“I have a feeling that we might’ve,” Rin replied, looking out at the amusement park spread out beneath them. “We should have a swimming race someday.”

“Alright.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The sun’s setting, too,” Rin smiled at the view spread out beneath them, watching as the sun disappeared slowly from the sky. They were still going up the ferris wheel, at an incredibly slow pace.

“I think Gou and Nagisa timed it,” Haru said, and Rin laughed again, his sharp teeth exposed.

“Those little shits.”

They sat in a rather comfortable silence as the sun completely disappeared from the sky. By the time they reached the highest point of the ferris wheel, the sun was gone, it was dark, and lights had started flickering on.

Rin let out as he turned away from the glass, only to see Haru’s face incredibly close to his.

He sucked in a breath, leaned back further in his seat. “What are you doing?”

“It’s the best view from here, the highest point,” Haru pulled back a little, and Rin relaxed. “Isn’t it where all the couples kiss in shoujo mangas?”

“Are you trying to say this feels a little like a shoujo manga?” Rin replied, and Haru nodded.

Rin let out a laugh, trying to ignore the escalated beating of his heart.

_Kiss? Couples? Shoujo manga? Ferris wheel? Night? Kiss? Kiss?_

“It kind of does, doesn’t it?” Rin replied, as the ferris wheel started going down. “It’s beautiful from up here, though. The town. You can see everything.”

They were in comfortable silence again.

When the ferris wheel was almost at the ground again, Rin let out a breath. His heart was still beating slightly faster than usual. “I’m sorry. We okay now?”

“Yeah,” Haru replied with one of his barely there smiles. “Of course.”


	7. Chapter 7

_part seven._

_dance till the stars come down from the rafters,_

_dance, dance, dance ‘till you drop._

_(- W.H. Auden)_

Rin switched back to his normal freeform class the day right after the Ferris Wheel ride, and the second he walked into studio four, everyone pounced on him.

"Princess," Hajime whined, knocking Rin over with the force of his hug. "Why did you abandon us?"

"Don’t call me Princess," Rin said with a slight laugh, pushing Hajime off him.

"You’re finally back," Chiyo looked relieved as she grinned brightly at Rin. "It felt kind of weird without you around, you know?"

"Really? I didn’t think it’d make much of a difference," Rin got up from the floor, pulling Hajime up with him. "I mean. The only things we know about each other are our names and the way each of us dances. And we rarely speak during classes or anything."

Hatsumi smiled slightly, reaching up to pat Rin’s head and slightly mess up his hair. “None of us hang out outside of dance class, but I like to think we’re all friends, in a way. We missed you. And we _do_ talk to each other in dance class. Occasionally.”

"Besides, didn’t someone say in some point of time in some book or whatever that if you know the way someone dances, you know the person very well? Or something along the lines of that," Kokoa piped up. "So, if you think along the lines of that, we all do know each other very well."

"That’s a very solid quote, Kokoa," Hajime said, rolling his eyes. "It’s not even sourced. ‘Didn’t someone say in some point of time in some book or whatever’? For all we know, you could’ve made the quote up on the spot."

Kokoa huffed, crossing her arms. “And so what if I did? It’s kind of the truth, anyways.”

Aoyagi smiled softly in the corner, and Haru was sitting off to the side, watching everything with an indecipherable look.

Rin laughed, smiling at everyone around him.

"Well. You know. It is kind of nice to be back." He smiled.

 

=

 

It was the second last day of January and they were all gathered at the park.

They were all sitting in the middle of one of clearings in the park - all of them on the thin blanket of snow that had come from what was probably the last snowfall of Winter.

Rin was sitting, leaning backwards with his legs stretched out in front of him and pushing himself up with his elbows, talking with Nitori, who was seated on his right. On his left was Haru, sitting in a cross legged position, wearing earphones. Beside Haru was Makoto, who was currently engaged in a conversation with Mikoshiba about something or other.

Mikoshiba had somehow managed to land a seat next to Gou, and they were both stealing glances at each other when they thought no one was looking.

Rin would scowl whenever that happened, and Nitori would grin almost sympathetically at his senpai.

Sitting next to Gou was Nagisa, who was lying down with his head on Rei’s lap. Rei looked both uncomfortable and slightly irritated, and Nagisa was just ignoring Rei’s expressions and talking freely. Nitori was sitting next to Nagisa, and then they came full circle.

“Isn’t this nice?” Gou smiled cheerfully. “Like a picnic.”

“In what way is this like a picnic? We’re sitting, in the middle of a clearing, on snow, and people are staring at us like we’re crazy,” Rin turned away from Nitori for a moment, starting to rant about their situation. “And we probably are. _Also_ , you’re the only girl.”

“We’re Gou-chan’s harem!” Nagisa said cheerfully, and Rin’s eyes flashed angrily.

“It’s Kou!” Gou protested, just as Rin got ready to punch Nagisa in the face.

“Matsuoka-senpai,” Nitori tugged on Rin’s jacket while forcing slight laughter. “Please stay calm.”

“This is also,” Rin huffed, looking disgruntled, “Not a picnic because there is no food.”

“Onii-san, you’re too picky.”

“We can go buy food!” Nagisa suggested with a grin and a thumbs up.

“None of us have the money, because it’s the end of the month and our monthly allowances have all ran out,” Mikoshiba countered, running his hands through his hair.

“Have they?” Nagisa looked rather disappointed for a moment. “Does nobody have money? How about you, Rin-chan?”

“What makes you think _I_ have money? You all know for a fact I don’t have a job,” Rin replied. He paused, considering. “I do have a little bit. But I’m saving it up. There’s a lot of instant ramen stocked up at my apartment, though.”

“Rin-chan!” Nagisa whined. “Don’t be stingy!”

“I do have money, but no way is it enough to feed eight people!”

“We should do a street dance performance,” Makoto suggested, “If we need money. I mean, people tip us for dancing, right?”

Everyone’s heads swiveled to Makoto, and there was a rather awkward moment in which nobody said anything.

“That’s a great idea, Makoto-senpai!” Gou grinned, “I brought portable speakers -.”

“ _Why do you have portable speakers?_ ” Rin said, under his breath.

“ - so we could totally do that!”

“Oh! Rei-chan and I can do a duet!” Nagisa said excitedly, sitting up straight.

“Ai should dance for us,” Rin said, leaning back lazily. “I haven’t seen him dance in a while.”

“Gou-chan should dance, too,” Makoto said, and almost instantaneously, Rin burst into laughter while Gou flushed bright red.

“Makoto,” Rin said, sitting up straight and choking out words through his laughter. “Gou can’t dance to save her life.”

“Huh?” The entire circle, with the exceptions of Haru and Gou, said in almost perfect unison. Everyone looked hilariously confused, which just served to make Rin laugh harder.

“She can’t dance,” Rin explained, “Has no sense of rhythm whatsoever. Can’t remember choreography, for some crazy reason. She’s really good at managing and organizing things, though, I guess.”

“It’s not like I’ve never _tried!_ ” Gou whined. “Don’t make fun of me, onii-chan.”

“Not making fun of you, sis, just stating the facts.”

“I’ll teach you how to dance,” Mikoshiba offered, and Rin stood up, making his arms cross in a big X.

“Nope. No. Not until she’s ten years older. No.”

_“Onii-san!”_

“…I’m hungry, can we just start dancing so we get some money already?” Nagisa asked, and Rei nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” Makoto said, agreeing. “Haru, could you dance first?”

“Why Nanase-senpai?” Nitori asked.

Rei was the one who replied. “Because, according to the data I have collected over the numerous street dance performances, Haruka-senpai draws in a grand total of five hundred yen average more than everyone else.”

“Oh.” Nitori said.

“You know what would probably make even more money? _Rin-chan and Haru-chan doing a duet_!” Nagisa suggested brightly.

“No,” both Rin and Haru said bluntly, at the same time, Haru sliding his earphones out of his ears gently.

“Those two doing a duet together? I want to see that,” Mikoshiba commented, and Nitori started nodding furiously.

“They’re amazing together!” Gou gushed.

“It’s beautiful,” Rei nodded.

 _“_ _No.”_ Rin said.

“Matsuoka-senpai,” Nitori said, almost nervously, “I want to see you and Haruka-senpai’s duet.”

Rin pulled his phone out, glanced at the time.

“I, uh,” he said, brushing himself off, “Have something to do. So, you guys can street dance and stuff. See you all…at some point. I have a feeling Gou’s going to drag us all out for lunch again tomorrow anyways.”

He turned and dashed away from the clearing, leaving everyone puzzled.

“Is Rin-chan late for a date or something?” Nagisa asked.

“Matsuoka has a girlfriend? I never knew that,” Mikoshiba mused.

Only Makoto noticed Haru silently getting up and following Rin.

 

=

 

“Yo, Dad. Brought you crocuses this month. They have such a weird name, but they’re really pretty. They mean ‘cheerfulness,’ so yes.” Rin set the flowers down on the grave, smiled a little. “If you can’t tell by the flowers, I’m in a much better mood than last month. It’s the end of January now and, well, uh…things happened, I guess. Everything is great now. Absolutely wonderful. Haru and I are fine now, and I’m friends with Makoto, Nagisa, Rei - Ai and Mikoshiba, too, kind of. Not like we ever stopped being friends. And I suppose Hajime, Aoyagi, Chiyo, Hatsumi, and Kokoa are my friends, too. _Friends._ So many people. It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? I’m sort of used to being alone, after all.”

He didn’t notice a pair of bright blue eyes watching from off to the side.

“A little while ago, Nagisa and Gou threw me into a shoujo manga. I won’t go into detail,” Rin’s face flushed red just thinking about it, “But yes. Shoujo manga. In real life. Anyways, the Winter Performance has just barely ended but everyone’s started prepping for the Summer Performance already.”

A pause.

“I’ll go to Juilliard. I swear I will.”

“Is this where you go whenever you run off at some point in the month, and nobody can find you anywhere?” A quiet voice said, and Rin jumped.

Haru stepped out from where he was hiding in the shadows. “Sorry to intrude. Is this your Dad’s grave?”

“H-H _aru_! Why are you here?” Rin asked, as Haru started to slowly walk up to him.

“I followed you after you ran off from the park,” Haru replied simply, and Rin shook his head.

“I’m not even going to ask why because I know you’ll just reply with some kind of riddle,” Rin sighed, sitting down on the ground in front of the grave. “Well, since you’re here, you might as well…either leave, or come over here.”

Haru walked to sit down next to Rin, and there was a moment of silence before Haru spoke again. “My Grandma’s grave is near here. I visit it sometimes.”

“I come here once a month,” Rin said, “So, yes. This is where I go to when I run off and nobody can find me anywhere.”

“Oh.” Haru turned to the grave. “To talk to your Dad?”

“Yes.”

“Can I talk to him too?”

“Uh. I guess.”

“Matsuoka-sama,” Haru addressed the grave, his speech oddly formal. “I’m Haruka Nanase. I suppose you could consider me one of Rin’s friends. Please entrust Rin to me.”

“Wait, hold up. Why is it so formal? It’s like you’re asking my Dad for my hand in marriage or something!” Rin flushed bright red as Haru turned to look at him.

“Who said I wasn’t?” Haru said cryptically, and Rin felt his heart stutter before starting to beat so fast it almost hurt.

“…are you playing some kind of joke right now?”

“I’d like to meet your Mom someday, too.” Haru said, nonchalantly, “Now that I’ve met your Dad.”

He turned back to the grave, “Matsuoka-sama. Do you suppose you would like me if you were here right now?”

Rin shook his head, trying to ignore the jackhammering of his heart. If it was anybody else but Haru sitting here with him, he would’ve probably felt violated and angry. But with Haru - it felt oddly natural, and he couldn’t quite explain why he didn’t feel irritated. “I’m pretty sure he would.” Rin said, quietly.

Haru turned to Rin, wearing a half-smile. “Would he? That’s good.”

“About meeting my Mom - I’m going home for dinner on February 2nd. Do you want to come with?”

Haru’s smile grew a tiny bit bigger. “Okay.”

He sat beside Rin as Rin talked freely to his Dad again, staying there with him until Rin decided it was time to leave.

 

=

January finished with Rin choosing music for his solo in the Summer Performance with Haru, Rin carefully drawing out the first draft of his choreography, and Miss Amakata trying to convince Rin and Haru to dance another duet.

Both of them refused, but she didn’t stop trying.

 

=

 

The first thing Rin saw when he walked in through the door of the house and called, “I’m back,” was a party popper bursting in his face.

Gou stood in the entranceway, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, grinning. “Happy Birthday, onii-chan. I’m glad you actually showed up today. Mom was so excited - if you hadn’t showed up for your birthday, she would’ve been really sad. If you hadn’t showed up, I would’ve gone to the dance studio and beaten you up.”

“Jeez. I showed up. Now chill. Thanks for the greeting,” Rin grinned as he slipped off his shoes.

Haru trailed into the doorway behind him, looking rather uncomfortable. He turned to look at Rin, his voice sounding slightly betrayed. “You didn’t tell me it was your birthday.”

“Oh? Did I not? Sorry.”

“You should’ve,” Haru cast his eyes down onto the floor. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“Don’t be such an idiot,” Rin patted Haru on the back gently. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Onii-chan! Why is Haruka-senpai with you?” Gou was staring at the scene, looking rather shocked.

“I, uh, invited him for dinner?” Rin said, sliding past Gou. “Did I forget to mention that, too?”

“Yes, you did! Mom’s going to throw a fit because she only prepared for three people!”

“Mom always cooks a lot when I come back anyways. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Rin sniffed the air. “I smell mackerel.”

Haru lifted his head, his eyes gleaming.

“Yeah, Mom made mackerel curry,” Gou replied.

“Ah, that’s perfect,” Rin said. “Is Mom in the kitchen right now?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

“Alright! Come on, Haru, it’s time for you to meet my Mom,” Rin walked down the hallway, Haru shuffling awkwardly behind him.

“I’m back.” Rin said, opening a door that led into a kitchen.

“Rin,” A woman with hair a slightly darker shade than both Rin’s and Gou’s, turned to look at him. She had dark brown eyes and was wearing an apron over a t shirt and jeans. “You’re finally back again. I still don’t understand why you moved out, honestly, you could’ve just stayed at - who is that?”

“Oh.” Rin put his hands on Haru’s shoulders, maneuvering Haru so that the blue eyed boy was in front of him. “This is Haruka Nanase. I call him Haru. He’s my friend. I invited him over for dinner.”

“You didn’t even give me notice beforehand! Honestly, Rin. Next time you invite someone over, tell me before! I didn’t make enough food…”

“Jeez, you always make too much when I come back for dinner anyways,” Rin shook his head, “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

The stove was turned off as she wiped her hands on the apron and walked over to Haru. “Nice to meet you. I wasn’t aware Rin actually had friends. He never talked to me about them.”

Rin flushed red and opened his mouth, trying to stutter out words. No sound came.

“Uh,” Haru shuffled his feet, looking around like he wasn’t sure what to do. “I’m…Haruka Nanase. Nice to meet you as well. Are you, um, Rin’s older sister? I wasn’t aware he had one - .”

Rin burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking as he leaned on Haru’s back for support. “Haru, are you being _serious_ or are you trying to turn on the charms?”

Haru’s face flushed slightly pink, and he looked down at the ground. “Did I - did I say something wrong?”

“She’s my _Mom_ , Haru,” Rin shook his head as the woman started laughing into her hands.

“Oh. I’m so sorry,” Haru said, seeming slightly flustered. “Uh - .”

Mrs. Matsuoka laughed, smiled at Haru. “I like you already. Why did Rin never tell me about you? Honestly, he’s much more polite than you are, Rin, we should adopt him into the family.”

“Wait,” Rin let go of Haru’s shoulders, held up his hands. “What did he do in the last two minutes that suddenly made you want to adopt him into your family?”

“He’s very cute, Rin,” Mrs. Matsuoka replied, “Much cuter than you. And more polite. I don’t see why we can’t adopt him into the family. Also, he’s the first friend you’ve ever introduced to me. Haruka - may I call you Haruka? - you can call me ‘Mom.’ It doesn’t really matter. Welcome to the family.”

“Mom, hold up. He has parents who are alive. We can’t just adopt him.”

“Any friend you decide is close enough to you to bring back home and actually introduce to me is automatically a part of the family.” Mrs. Matsuoka replied. “Now help set the table, Rin. Haruka, make yourself comfortable.”

Gou, who had been eavesdropping from the hallway, started laughing.

 

=

 

Rin’s birthday dinner was a rather nice affair, with the addition of Haru.

They ate as his Mom talked with Haru - _‘What school do you go to, Haruka? Oh, Gou’s? That’s wonderful,’_  - Haru began to slowly relax as the evening went on, and by the time dinner was over, his Mom was practically ready to adopt Haru on the spot.

Then they had had cake, and Rin blew out candles and made a wish, and then he was given presents.

New sneakers and bandages hidden in the shoes from Gou - a sticky note stuck to the bottom of the shoebox read ‘ _don’t overwork yourself, onii-chan_ _,_ ’ and a stack of new CDs he had mentioned wanting at some point during family dinners from his Mom.

“Mom, how did you remember all of the CDs I wanted?”

“You’re my son. You rarely come back home, and you just started to recently. Of course I’d remember any word that you said. I miss you a lot when you’re gone, you know.”

Haru looked awkward when he had nothing to give to Rin, and ended up asking Gou for a piece of paper and pencil. Five minutes later, Rin had been presented with a rough sketch that portrayed him dancing - a rough sketch that looked absolutely amazing, almost like a photograph - and he stared at it in shock as Haru looked down at the ground blushing.

His Mom had liked Haru more and more after that, and started gushing over his drawing skills.

Then they all sat around the living room and had tea as his Mom started talking about Rin’s childhood and showing Rin’s baby photos to Haru - which made Rin yell and scream and try to hide all the photos - _honestly, Mom, stop, Haru doesn’t need to know._

Haru had seemed slightly amused at the stories, looking pleased and happy and like he fit in _perfectly_ with Rin’s family, and they left after his Mom had told him to bring Haru back for dinner at least a hundred times. Gou waved them off with a smile, shoving leftovers of mackerel curry into Haru’s bag, and Haru had walked him back to the train station even though he could’ve easily gone back home.

All in all, it was a pretty decent birthday.

 

=

 

On Valentine’s Day, Rin’s school completely exploded and went crazy. Rin didn’t get any chocolates all day, though the entirety of Samezuka Academy seemed to be floating on a haze of happiness and infatuation and chocolates.

The only people in the dance studio that day were him and Haru. Apparently everyone else was out on dates.

Rin had never liked Valentine’s Day, anyways. Though when he was little, he had always hoped to get chocolates.

He never got any, and the customs in Australia had been vastly different.

Haru and him practiced in relative silence until past midnight.

Haru didn’t speak much that day, and Rin was still feeling slightly irritated by all the talk of chocolates and dates he had had to listen to for practically the entire day.

When Rin stumbled into his apartment and collapsed onto his couch, he noticed a flash of pink peeking out from inside his duffel bag.

Stuffed inside the bag was a pink bag of dark chocolates - his favourite - with a shark drawn on the _to_ tag, a dolphin sketched hastily on the _from_ tag.

 

=

 

The chocolates weren’t mentioned again.

February passed by with Rin going to watch all of Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei’s street dance performances with Gou, tutoring Nitori in English, and trying but failing to threaten Mikoshiba to stay away from his sister.

Rin signed up for a one time two hour gymnastics class to learn more flexibility.

Rei signed up with him, because apparently gymnastics were beautiful and he would at least like to learn the basics.

Throughout the entire class, the two of them competed furiously with each other.

Rin kept on dancing non stop, and he tried to ignore the bandages soaked through with blood every time he got home and took off his shoes at night.

February ended with Haru coming with him to his Dad’s grave, Haru choosing the flowers - white lotus blossoms, meaning _reincarnation, peace._ He talked in front of the grave, leaning against Haru slightly, and Haru sat silently, occasionally correcting the details of Rin’s stories.

 

=

 

March started with Gou discovering that Rin was still abusing his feet to no end. She forbid him to dance until his feet healed, forcibly dragging him out of the dance studio and locking him in his own apartment.

She directed everyone else in studio four to kick Rin out the moment he tried to walk into the studio, the lady manning the front desk to kick Rin out as soon as he walked into the Dance Academy.

Haru went on his dance hiatus with him, for some reason.

After school, Haru would be (somehow) waiting for him in front of Samezuka Academy, and then they would go for tea, or go shopping, or go watch a movie.

If not going out, then they would go to Rin’s apartment and study for finals together, Rin teaching Haru English.

After finals week, they went to the Aquarium alone - Haru’s favourite display had been the sharks. They had sat, staring at the sharks, for a good half hour or so, just staring at the sharks swim.

The day after, they went to the amusement park after school, and gone on the water rollercoaster at least six times.

With all that, Rin was thoroughly distracted and didn’t attempt to dance even once.

The outings with Haru made him extremely happy - he called them _outings_ , Gou, for some reason, called them _dates_ \- and soon the very presence of Haru made him rather happy in general.

Gou was extremely pleased.

 

=

 

On White Day, Haru and him went to the movies together.

During the movie, he slipped a box of unsigned chocolates into Haru’s bag.

 

=

  
  


By the time he was allowed to dance again, it was March break.

And so he spent the first week of March break dancing in the studio until he dropped - he practically lived in the Dance Academy during that time, showering in the change rooms, dancing until he fell asleep in the studios.

During that period of time, Makoto was the one who brought him food and fresh clothes, telling Rin to stop dancing whenever he passed out.

“You’re kind of just like Haru,” Makoto had said one time, “I can’t get you to listen to me.”

Rin had kept on dancing, not really acknowledging the words.

Finally, Makoto got him to stop dancing by telling him that Haru was currently doing a street dance performance. Rin was dragged out of the studio and off to Haru’s street dance performance.

Haru was pretty busy for the entirety of March break, really - Makoto informed him later it was because he had neglected most of his studying for the whole time he had spent with Rin during Rin’s dance hiatus, and so he had make up exams - (Rin felt guilty about that), and so Rin spent a bit more time with Makoto.

They went shopping, Makoto taught him some intermediate popping, they discussed their musical tastes.

They went down to the beach near the end of March, watching the waves crash.

Makoto tossed rocks at the ocean as Rin sat balanced on the sharp, jagged rocks by the shore.

“You know,” Makoto had said, in between the tossing of rocks and the spray of the sea, “I’m not quite sure which one of you to threaten - you or Haru, because you’re both my friends. But if you ever hurt Haru’s heart again like you did after the Winter Performance, I won’t let you off easily.”

“What do you mean?” Rin had asked easily, tilting his head up to the sky.

“You’ll see,” Makoto had replied almost ominously, throwing three rocks at the sea. “It’ll happen eventually.”

March ended with Haru making time to finally see Rin during the March Break. They went to Rin’s Dad’s grave together - Rin choosing the flowers.

Pink carnations - _gratitude._

Rin sat and told stories about Makoto and Haru and Gou and dancing until it was late and he lost track of time, and Haru fell asleep leaning against his shoulder.

 

=

 

Nagisa kidnapped Rin in the beginning of April, bursting into studio four on the last day of March Break, right before the new school year, and grabbing Rin.

He had dragged Rin out of the Dance Academy before Rin had a chance to protest, and thrown him in front of a Rei, collapsed on the pavement and looking dejected.

“Teach Rei-chan how to dance like it’s natural!” Nagisa had yelled, and Rin had stared at him with an _are you crazy_ look.

“The jazz instructor is constantly telling Rei-chan that even though his movements are technically fine and correct, he looks awkward while dancing and it’s not natural! Please teach Rei-chan how to dance like it’s natural, Rin-chan!”

“What makes you think that _I_ can do it?” Rin scoffed.

“Please, Rin-chan! Haru-chan’s not a very good instructor. All he said to Rei-chan was ‘dance free. Feel the music. There is nothing to fear.’ Please help Rei-chan, Rin-chan!”

Rin sighed, bent down in front of Rei. “You’re originally a track guy, right, megane?”

 _“_ _Megane_?” Rei sounded mildly offended.

“What? Calling you Megane isn’t a bad thing. I’m trying to give you a new identity or somethin’, maybe it’ll help.” Rin sighed. “So, you’re originally a track guy, not a dancer. You good at track?”

“I did pole vault. I got to Nationals,” Rei replied. “Then Nagisa dragged me away from it.”

“Ah. Nationals. That’s very impressive. So, you’re originally a track pole vaulter, a National level one. Yes? Okay. That’s what you’re good at. It doesn’t matter if people tell you dancing doesn’t look natural when you do it. Remember how good you are at pole vaulting. Everyone has their own, uh, strengths and weaknesses. I couldn’t do pole vaulting, I would fall and probably injure myself. Dancing naturally is something you learn how to do once you stop thinking about dancing. It’s kind of hard for people who have just started dancing, so it doesn’t matter. I can’t teach you how to dance naturally, no matter what Nagisa says. Just keep on dancing, and eventually it’ll come naturally to you. Okay? Okay. Goodbye, Megane, Nagisa, I’m going back to my class.”

“Oooh!” Nagisa looked impressed. “Rin-chan is very inspirational and smart!”

“That was longer, but it didn’t give me much more information as Haruka-senpai’s words did!” Rei whined. “I need someone to teach me how to dance naturally!”

 _What an idiot_ , Rin thought.

 

=

 

The new term started with Nagisa, Rei, Gou, and Nitori going into their Second Year of High School, Makoto, Haru, and Rin their third.

Mikoshiba graduated, went off to a university an hour away.

Rin didn’t want to say _good riddance_ , but at least now Mikoshiba wasn’t around Gou anymore.

April was when the more intense preparations started for the Summer Performance - choosing a general theme, costume ideas, props.

Rin didn’t really pay attention to any of it (knowing that Miss Amakata and Gou wouldn’t let him choose his own costume anyways), and just kept on dancing.

His days consisted of going to school, doing homework during break time, then going to dance class. He went back home for dinner again - his Mom was rather upset that he didn’t bring Haru back with him, and he normally had dinner with Rei, or Nagisa, occasionally Haru.

On the second Saturday of April, Haru randomly appeared in front of Rin’s apartment and said, “We should skip school for a day and go to an onsen,” he had said, his voice perfectly deadpan and serious.

"….huh?" Rin had been half asleep and confused, and somehow he had ended up agreeing.

Sunday morning, he had the bare necessities in a rucksack and Haru and him were standing at the train station waiting for a train.

"So. Uh. Why are we going to an onsen?" Rin asked.

"Makoto suggested it, but I didn’t have any time over March Break," Haru replied.

Rin hadn’t asked any more, but as soon as he got onto the train he stiffened, shoulders tensing as he sat down and the train started moving.

Haru had looked at him questioningly, and Rin had smiled rather sheepishly and replied, “I don’t like long distance trains.”

Haru placed one of his hands on top of one of Rin’s shaky ones, held it still.

It stayed there for the rest of the train ride.

 

=

 

The onsen was rather nice - apparently they got a discount, because it was owned by one of Rei’s relatives.

By the time they got there it was night.

Rin had wanted to sleep, so he rolled out a futon, mumbled something about taking a bath tomorrow morning, and then promptly fell asleep.

Haru rolled out a futon right next to Rin, stared at Rin’s sleeping face. Then he pulled out a sketchbook and started drawing, drawing _Rin_ \- drawing until most of the inn was dark and it was well past midnight.

Right before he went to sleep, Haru leaned closer to Rin.

Their lips just barely touched, in a way that could hardly be considered a kiss, before Haru jerked backwards and buried himself into his own futon, falling asleep. Haru didn’t notice Rin’s eyes flicking open for half a second before closing again.

When Rin woke up, his mind was hazy and he wasn’t quite sure if it was a dream or not.

 

=

 

Haru kept a respectable distance from Rin when they went to soak in the baths together, looking rather flustered (or as flustered as Haru could get) the whole while.

When they got back to school, they were scolded by their teachers, Makoto, and Gou.

(Neither of them paid attention to any of the lectures whatsoever).

 

=

 

“Hey, uh, Gou.”

“Yes, onii-chan?”

“What is it…when you’re, like, near a person, and then your heart immediately beats faster? Or even when you’re…uh, thinking about them? And spending time with them makes you incredibly happy and sometimes all you want in the world is for them to smile?”

“…”

“Gou?”

“Onii-chan,” Gou giggled, turning to face her brother with a smile. “Isn’t that known as falling in love?”

 

=

 

April ended with Rin going to his Dad’s grave, without Haru, placing a bouquet of acacia blossoms on the tombstone.

Acacia blossoms - _concealed love._

Rin crumbled down onto the ground in front of the grave, looked up at the sky.

“Hey, Dad. I don’t know how it happened, but I think I’m in love.”

 

=

 

May started with Mrs. Matsuoka taking things into her own hands and inviting Haru over for dinner herself.

Rin walked into his house after a long day of self practice, and into the kitchen to the sight of Haru and his Mom cooking together - Haru making mackerel, his Mom cooking some kind of pasta.

Haru was wearing a blue apron.

“Mom,” Rin had said slowly, jumping at the sight of Haru. “Why is Haru here?”

“I invited him, of course, since you didn’t seem like you were going to anytime soon. I ran into him at the fish market when he was buying mackerel,” his Mom replied nonchalantly.

“Mom.” Rin sighed. “Why would you even -.”

“It’s your fault for not inviting him sooner. We’re having mackerel and pasta for dinner. Go set the table, Rin.”

 

=

 

That night, Haru presented Mrs. Matsuoka with a drawing of her, Gou, and Rin.

She had promptly framed it and put it in the entryway.

“Mom, it’s almost like you like Haru more than you like me.” Rin had sighed, as he poured everyone after dinner tea.

Mrs. Matsuoka had smiled, patting Haru’s head. “Maybe I do.”

 

=

 

He started tutoring Nagisa, Rei, _and_ Nitori in English in the middle of May. If it could be considered tutoring.

The three of them would walk into studio four after their classes, and then sit down. Rin would explain English grammar to them while simultaneously dancing and talking to Haru.

Then they would all go out for dinner, sometimes picking up Makoto on the way.

His Saturdays were either spent sleeping or with either Makoto or Haru. When he was with Haru, they usually danced all day. With Makoto - Makoto would take him to random places, occasionally the beach, and they would talk about random things.

He went over to Makoto’s house once, met Ren and Ran - Makoto’s siblings, twins. A brother and a sister. Rin played video games with Ren while Ran did his hair up and transformed him into a ‘Princess,’ while occasionally giving Ren instructions and instructing him on how to win each level of the video game. Ren would occasionally pause while playing the game and give Ran suggestions on what to do with Rin’s hair to make it look prettier.

Makoto laughed as he watched on, even snapped a picture of Rin in princess mode - a tiara on his head, glitter and makeup on his cheeks, his hair tied back with a sparkly accessories.

“If you show that to _anyone_ ,” Rin had hissed, “I will make sure you won’t live to see tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry,” Makoto had said, pocketing his phone, “I won’t.”

Rin trusted Makoto, and so it had never been mentioned again.

 

=

 

Somewhere near the end of May, Haru and Rin did a street dancing performance together, an hour away from Samezuka Dance Academy and somewhere near Mikoshiba’s university.

They didn’t tell anyone about it, but the money that they got from it was rather ridiculous. Ten hundred yen total (shocking, for a simple street dance performance) - they had split the money, and then they went shopping together almost right after.

Dancing with Haru felt almost unreal - it felt better than dancing by himself, and the two of them were so in sync despite the fact that no choreography had been created beforehand.

Rin couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.

 

=

 

When Rin went to the grave at the end of May, a bouquet of fresh flowers had already been set out on the tombstone.

Bluebells.

He didn’t even need to ask to know who the flowers were from, and with a slight smile, he set his bouquet in front of the tombstone, nestled them next to the bluebells.

“I made them do a fern arrangement, Dad. I know they’re not really flowers, but they mean magic and fascination, and I think that’s rather nice, don’t you? I see Haru has visited you already. Do you love him like Mom does? Mom wants to adopt him. I feel like she likes Haru more than I do.”

Rin laughed, lying down in front of the tombstone. “My life’s been really good lately, Dad. It seems almost surreal.”

 

=

 

June was started with everyone going to the beach - even Mikoshiba. He was in town, visiting his parents for the weekend, and so Gou had dragged everyone off to the beach.

Rin and Haru had a swimming competition, cutting across the water at speeds faster than everyone else. Makoto avoided the water in general, sat next to Gou and prepared snacks. Mikoshiba was a surprisingly good swimmer, swimming back and forth and occasionally waving at Gou.

Rei, who apparently had no idea how to swim, was slowly being coached by both Nagisa and Nitori in the shallower parts of the ocean.

It was nice, peaceful - the day ended with everyone gathered around a campfire that Mikoshiba had _somehow_ managed to make, roasting marshmallows (which Gou had brought to the beach, for some reason), and eating sandwiches bought from one of the stalls near the beach.

As Rin laughed with everyone, he thought that he didn’t ever want this surreal happiness to end.

 

=

 

A couple days deeper into June, though, and Samezuka Dance Academy was back to _pre_ _big performance_ stage, except it was slightly more chaotic than the Winter Performance.

Haru kept on tripping over props in the hallway, and Rin would always laugh at him as he pulled Haru up from the floor, reached out to keep him from falling.

Miss Amakata was the one who chose both of Rin and Haru’s costumes, knowing that if she let them choose by themselves, Rin would end up with some ridiculous costume that made no sense, Haru with his normal practice clothes.

Before Rin could process anything, the day of the Summer Performance had arrived, and _holy shit time had passed way too fast was this how it feels like when you have friends to do stuff with?_

The backstage of this auditorium was bigger, and Rin and Haru had their own separate dressing room.

“I’m going to Juilliard,” Rin whispered to himself, arranging his costume. “I _will_ go to Juilliard.”

“If you want to,” Haru said quietly, spreading out the stage makeup on the dressing room table. “You definitely could.”

 

=

 

Rin was dressed up in his costume, all ready to go out on stage, and he was shaking again. Haru gripped his shoulders, spun Rin around, and started adjusting Rin’s costume gently.

Rin was wearing an arabian themed outfit - Miss Amakata’s choice. He had a red turban, a black cape like jacket thing with a red interior that flew out behind him. It was unbuttoned and showed his entire chest. His pants were pure white, baggy, and he had gold bracelets around his wrists, a gold necklace draped around his neck.

“An outfit for royalty,” Miss Amakata had said when she had presented Rin with the costume. “An Arabian Prince. Or King, I suppose.”

“Hey, Rin. You’re out in a minute,” somebody called from outside of the dressing room, knocking on the door rapidly.

Rin shuddered, took a deep breath.

Haru leaned forwards and planted a gentle kiss on Rin’s cheek, making Rin jump away in complete shock.

“Wha -,” he stuttered.

“You have to go and perform now,” Haru said calmly, his blue eyes boring into Rin’s. “That was for luck.”

 

=

 

Rin performed better than he had ever before, standing on the stage with all his props - he had gold chains, ones of a king, and he played with them, spinning them around as he did his routine, laughing as he danced.

The music seemed to bend to his movements, work with them - and it was fun, incredibly fun, though whenever Haru’s kiss flashed through his mind, he would blush bright red and almost miss a beat.

The song ended with him throwing one of his bracelets into the crowd and bowing - and the reception from the audience was wonderful, incredible. They screamed his name. He had flowers thrown onto the stage for him, and he picked up as many as he could carry.

He got a standing ovation.

_I wonder how they’re going to react to Haru, if they’re impressed by me._

 

=

 

“Why do you have a fake sword in your costume?” Rin asked, adjusting Haru’s costume for him as he averted his eyes from Haru’s. Every time he met Haru’s eyes, he would blush uncontrollably and his movements would stop.

“It’s my prop. I’m supposed to use it while dancing.”

“Oh, are you?” Rin adjusted the blue and yellow scarf Haru had around his neck.

Haru had an arabian outfit as well - though not one of a Prince or King. It was one of a desert traveller, simpler. He had a cropped white top - the outfit bared his midriff - with a white shawl like thing and a blue scarf around his neck that covered his nose and mouth. His turban had a white top, but was lined with blue that peeked out, a shade that complimented his eyes. He had a gold belt across his waist, baggy black pants.

“You look nice,” Rin commented, slipping some of his jewelry off his costume. “I think I’m going to embellish your costume a bit more.”

Without a word, Rin snapped golden bangles onto Haru’s arm, draped a thin gold chain around his neck. “There, now you’ve got something to match with that fancy belt of yours. Go out there and kill it.”

Haru looked back at Rin just before he left the dressing room.

“I’m dancing for you, tonight,” he said perfectly seriously, before walking out the door.

Once he was gone, Rin collapsed onto the couch in the dressing room and buried his red face into the pillows.

 

=

 

Haru - Haru was flawless, entrancing as usual. He had the entire auditorium in a stunned silence as he danced, had everyone holding their breaths. He used the sword perfectly with his dance, swinging it around with movements fast and sharp that matched with the music.

He also slowly shedded a lot of his desert gear.

The turban came off first, after his hair flips to the beat, and then he had loosened the scarf.

The rest of his movements after that were graceful, alluring - better than the first time he had saw Haru, better than any other time he had performed.

_I’m dancing for you, tonight._

Haru ended the song, kneeling on the ground with his face tilted to the ceiling as he sheathed his sword.

The crowd exploded after that, and he got more flowers than Rin did.

 

=

 

“Did you like the dance?” Haru asked, as he came back to the dressing room.

“Yes,” Rin breathed, as Haru sat down on the couch next to him.

Haru shuffled around for a moment, staring at the TV screen as the next performer came on. He breathed out, shifted around some more, opened his mouth to say something before changing his mind and closing it again.

After a moment, he said, “It was for you.”

“Thank you,” Rin said again.

Rin’s heart was jackhammering in his chest and his throat felt dry and he didn’t know what to say. The very presence of Haru in the same room as him made him feel kind of lightheaded, scared and elated at the same time.

_How in the world did I manage to fall in love with a street dancer I pretty much hated at first over the course of a couple of months? When did he become such a big part of my life? Is this even love? Why won’t my heart stop beating so fast?_

_Why do I really want him to kiss me right now?_

“Rin?” Haru turned to look at him, almost questioningly, probably confused to why Rin was currently all tensed up and breathing very fast and looking at everything in the room except for Haru.

“I,” Rin blurted, when red eyes met blue, “like you. Really like you. I think I might even love you.”

_Oh god what did I just say what are you doing Rin stop why did you blurt that out could you be any more stupid? Rin, you’ve ruined it all you idiot._

“Only think?” Haru asked, and Rin let out forced laughter, shoved his bright red face into a pillow.

“I’m sorry I just totally threw our friendship down the drain and now you probably don’t want to see me again and oh god I think I’ll just shut up now.”

He felt a hand on his neck before something was nestled into his turban, gently.

Still not looking at Haru, he reached up to take whatever Haru had put there. Lifting his eyes from the cover of the pillow, he stared at the thing in his hand.

A single red rose.

_I love you._

Rin laughed into the pillow, feelings of relief and elation and happiness and confusion mixing up within him.

Haru twirled a strand of Rin’s hair around his finger, as Rin mumbled softly into the pillow.

“Love you, too. We should go on a date tomorrow.”

“We’ve already been on many dates. We’ve been to an _onsen_ together, Rin.”

“An official date, then.”

He could hear the smile in Haru’s voice when the boy finally spoke. “Okay.”

 

=

 

They spent the rest of the time in the dressing room, with Haru trying to coax Rin to get his face out of the pillow.

Rin refused to until his face returned to its normal hue and he stopped uncontrollably blushing, which, he thought, as he touched his burning cheek, was not going to happen anytime soon.

“We had a mutual love confession, I told you I loved you, and now you won’t look at me.” Haru’s voice was monotone, deadpan. “I’m quite sure that this is not how _reciprocated feelings_ are supposed to go.”

“Shut up, stop saying the word _love,_ you’re making it worse.”

“It’s almost time for all the Performers to come on stage and do a final bow. You have to look at me eventually.”

“Eventually. Not yet,” Rin shuddered as Haru started playing with his hair again. “ _Stop_. You’re going to make my heart fly out of its chest or something.”

“Is that supposed to be a romantic confession, Rin?”

“We already did all the confession stuff! And are you even sure your confession is legit or are you just playing a joke with me because seriously I still can’t tell what you’re thinking half the time - .”

“Are you having insecurities, Rin?”

“Shut up, Haru, of course you would never have _insecurities_ , right, because you’re perfect - .”

“I suppose I’ve loved you almost since I met you. I didn’t quite realize until the Ferris Wheel incident, though. Wasn’t the onsen obvious enough?”

“You told me _Makoto_ suggested the idea to you.”

“Yes, when I went to him for help on how to convey feelings.”

Rin started to laugh, the sounds muffled by the pillow he still had over his face.

“Oh. The last performance is about to end,” Haru said, glancing towards the TV screen. “It’s almost time for you to _finally_ look at me.”

“Oh, is it, because I think I could just skip the ending bow thing like I did last time - .”

The door to their dressing room burst open.

Haru turned towards the door, and there was a very tense moment of complete silent that peaked Rin’s curiosity enough to make him slowly lift his face from the pillow and also turn his head towards the door.

Nagisa and Miss Amakata were standing in the doorway, both with big smiles on their faces.

“Rin-chan! Haru-chan! Don’t relax. You’re not done yet. Tonight, you’re our _grand finale_!” Nagisa burst out, doing jazz hands. He started jumping up and down in excitement.

“Huh?” Rin raised one eyebrow in confusion.

Nagisa ran over to the couch, pulled both Rin and Haru off the couch. “Tonight, you two are doing the _grand finale_!” He said, grabbing their hands and running out the door of the dressing room.

Just outside the room, waiting, was Makoto. He smiled sheepishly as he grabbed Rin’s arm and started running. Nagisa took Haru, running in the exact opposite direction.

“Makoto - what the hell is happening? Whose idea is it? How did _you_ get dragged into it?”

“Shh, Rin, it’s for your own good,” Makoto said, and Rin suddenly realized that they were right beside the stage, hidden in the wings. “I’m very sorry.”

“Whoa, Makoto, what are you even apologizing for? What are you guys doing in the first place and why are you even here?”

Makoto adjusted the necklace around Rin’s neck and draped a golden chain across his shoulders. Then he proceeded to straighten up Rin’s entire costume, just as the current performer on stage finished and went backstage.

The lights completely shut off this time, making Makoto jump and cling to Rin. Whispers started sounding in the audience.

Two seconds later, the speakers crackled and _Rei’s_ voice sounded over the speakers, only serving to make Rin more confused.

“This is the,” Rei said dramatically over the speakers, “Story of the Arabian Prince and the desert traveller, the story of how they went from loathing to tolerance to something like love. The story of the Arabian Prince who has never been let out of the Palace to the traveller who has spent his whole life in the sands.”

“What the hell?” Rin whispered to Makoto, as Rei paused in his speech.

“Rei wrote it himself, with input from Nagisa,” Makoto informed him.

“This is the story of their fights and their trials, and how they learned to care for each other. The Grand Finale of Samezuka Dance Academy’s Summer Performance - Rin Matsuoka and Haruka Nanase!”

“What the hell?” Rin whisper-screamed, as Makoto pushed him onto the stage.

In the middle of the pitch black stage, he collided with somebody.

“Rin,” Haru’s voice whispered. “Are you as confused as I am?”

“Yes.” Rin said, “Yes, I am.”

“I think they want us to dance a duet.”

The stage lights started to turn back on, glowing softly as they steadily gained light.

A song started playing from the speakers, and from the first note Rin was whisked back to months ago, reliving the first time he had ever danced with Haru - it was the same song. The exact same song they had first danced to together.

He laughed quietly under his breath as Haru took one of his hands, unsheathed the sword at his belt, and gently pointed the tip of the fake sword at Rin’s neck.

“It’s supposed to start with loathing,” he smiled softly while Rin looked at him questioningly.

Rin laughed, and the next thing he knew they were dancing together, dancing out their story.

They started with Haru trying to hit Rin with a sword, spinning around each other in a constant duel. Haru would always come close to impaling Rin, only to hesitate, and the next thing he knew Rin had escaped.

They spun and danced - perfectly in sync, their faces moving closer to each other and then farther away.

Rin lifted Haru up in the air and spun him around, grabbing Haru’s sword and throwing it off somewhere backstage.

Haru took Rin’s bangles off his wrists and put them on his own, threw them onto the stage. He tripped Rin before catching him in a dip. Rin stood up and started guiding Haru around in spins across the stage. As they spun, he put more and more of his props on Haru - a golden chain, a necklace, more bangles.

Haru wrapped his own scarf around Rin’s neck the next time he decided to dip Rin.

They danced together in a constant game of ups and downs, switching the leader of the dance every couple of seconds. Rin would lift Haru up, spin him in the air. Haru would dip Rin, proceed to lead him in a couple of dance steps.

The entire auditorium was entranced, unable to look away. It was like Rin and Haru’s dance had transported them to an entirely different world.

When the dance ended, the audience was quiet for a very long time. When they started screaming, Rin wrapped his arms around Haru without thinking, and the next thing he knew, Haru had lifted up the coat cape thing that Rin was wearing, used it to cover the both of their faces, and they were kissing under the bright stage lights and Rin had no idea someone could feel this happy, _ever._

“Forget Juilliard,” someone shouted from the crowd, “You two are going to take over the world!”

Rin laughed into the kiss, and when Haru pulled back, Haru was smiling - a full smile, looking as happy as Rin had ever seen him.

“I’m going to Juilliard, Dad,” Rin whispered, leaning into Haru. “And then I’m going for the world.”

“Am I included in these plans?” Haru asked, and Rin replied by lifting Haru up and spinning him around once again.

“Of course you are. I’ll dance with only you. Would you come with me, though?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Haru grinned, an actual grin that showed his teeth, and Rin felt his heart stutter. “I’d follow you anywhere.”

Nagisa ran onto the stage, followed by Rei and Makoto.

He tackled Rin and Haru onto the floor as the rest of the students of Samezuka Dance Academy started filing onto the stage.

The auditorium lights went on, but the audience was still clapping.

“Rin-chan! Haru-chan!” Nagisa yelled, pulling them all into a group hug - Makoto and Rei included. “That was amazing! That was beautiful!”

“Beautiful,” Rei repeated, pushing up his glasses. “Stunning.”

Gou ran out from the backstage and onto the stage, making her way to the group of boys. “Onii-chan!”

“Gou, how did you even -.”

She threw her arms around Rin and Rin hugged her back, too happy to even question anything.

He was thrown through a series of hugs from the people on the stage - Chiyo, Hatsumi, Aoyagi, Makoto, Rei, everyone - but eventually he ended up with Haru, pushed to the shadows, the very edges of the stage.

“Rin,” Haru said, pulling him in for another kiss. He whispered against Rin’s lips. “Let’s take on the world together.”

Rin wrapped his arms around Haru, rested against him. “With you, I could do anything.”

  
_end._


End file.
